Marco opened his eyes. He stood on a white field completely naked. IT was just like the Parallel, except the sky was bright blue, like water in a Caribbean beach. His feet were cold, extremely so, he crouched down and took a fistful of the white floor, it was snow. He looked around, nothing. It was completely flat as far as the eye could see no matter which way he could see. He looked straight above him.
Right above his head, a white figure extended his hand down towards him. It's fingers reached to about 2 centimeter's off of his head. He stepped aside to fully admire it. It was like a marble statue with a soft golden hue. It was in the shape of a woman, with a robe that seemed to sway in the wind. It wasn't held up by anything, instead, it seemed like it was standing upside down in the air.
He reached forward with his hand, sliding his palm onto her fingers. It slowly closed it's fingers around his wrist, a deep warmth swept through his entire body, even the cold at his feet subsided with how nice this felt. He closed his eyes, he felt like his entire body floated around. He opened them again, seeing the same hands he had seen the other night. They didn't feel threatening this time, instead slowly opening up as if to wrap around him. The warmth he felt was like nothing he had ever felt before, not with those around him, not with any pleasure he could ever conceive. Before it could fully enclose him, his eyes shot open.
He was splayed in bed, he looked at his wrist, it had been about 6 hours since his arrival. He got up off his bed, taking off his jumpsuit and going to his personal shower. He jumped into something more casual when after, taking his tablet with him. He stepped outside and looked around, everyone's doors were closed except for Tyson's, Almost everyone had missed their sleep when they had to stay down at the parallel. He walked past the dining room and to the command room. Stepped in, he saw Darren looking down at his tablet on his chair, he checked the time, "Morning Marco."
"Have you gotten started on the scans?" Darren nodded, "About halfway done I think." Marco looked around the mostly empty room aside from the large console that spanned the viewport. Marco stepped closer, scrolling through the scan. Their purpose was to detect any potential future fissures and denote an approximation of how long they will take to hatch. Show up too soon, and you won't find it, show up too late, and you know the rest.
They had expected to see one or two more aside from the one they had just been to, spanning a 3 month timespan, however, those two were completely gone. The equipment could pick up altered activity, high enough levels and that could be picked up as a potential Fissure. But for two to be gone completely was almost never seen. Marco turned to Darren, who pouted while looking at his tablet, "Yup." "You think he did it?" Asked Marco, the other shrugging in response.
He stepped outside and headed to the quarters, Tyson's door was closed, he knocked. He opened the door and allowed him inside. His room was tidy, almost perfectly well kept, Tyson sat down at his desk chair and spun it to face Marco, "I was wondering when you'd come by." He interlaced his fingers and placed them at his lap. Marco stood with his hands at his back. "You closed the other two fissures didn't you?" He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pocket, Tyson nodded and lifted his hands "guilty as charged."
Despite his surprise, he wasn't really shocked. "So you can feel them too, huh?" Tyson shrugged, "You could say that." Marco came off the wall and walked over to him, "So what you're saying is you have a handler's capabilities now?" Tyson looked up at the ceiling pensively, it took him a second, "Sort of..." He summoned his handgun, same size as before. "I can sense what you can sense, but I'm still not really you? I don't know how else to put it-" he stood up, pacing the room "that same feeling me and cooper get with ruptures, it was just like that. But a little different." he made a small hand gesture, "It's as though the whole of the parallel is calling to me, but some parts are stronger. Like fissures." He turned to Marco who nodded.
Marco rubbed his hands together, "how do we know we can trust you?" Tyson thought, finding a good answer "I can tell you one thing, there is more like me out there, back on earth that is-" He looked at his glowing hand, "those who came as altered were usually forced to make the wrong decision."
A class altered appeared out of thin air, usually out in the wild where they would roam until they would come across someone unfortunate enough to be in their path. "I lied, if I were to stay down there long enough, I would probably go insane and feel like I have to take the same path." Marco saw as Tyson took off his hoodie, he was shirtless. He dug his fingers into his own chest and ripped open his chest. Marco stepped back and summoned his weapon, Tyson turned and showed his gaping chest. A small white core, that of an altered sat nestled where his heart should be, It shifted downward, disappearing into his body, he let go and the wound closed. "My body is a mush, I can move my cores to wherever I want." Marco's weapon disappeared. They stood in the room silently, Tyson put his hoodie back on.
"What's stopping you from just going back to earth? And what do you mean by THEY?" Marco was still stuck on the part of there being more altered people on earth. Tyson stared at Marco, "A strange force beckons me, while I am strong now, I am nowhere near strong enough to survive in a place like the void. I would get torn to shreds if I were to so much as touch the void, just like you." He walked behind Marco, "Consider yourself lucky I have a goal." He stepped out of the room, leaving Marco by himself.
He placed his hands over his head and huffed, he walked outside a few seconds later, Tyson not in sight. He stepped back in his room with his tablet in hand. Every ounce of him was telling him to report this to higher authorities, but a morbid curiosity stopped him from doing so. However these were only his thoughts, at the end of the day, every single other person in the crew knew this too. Would they all remain silent if he did? In fact, would they be able to trust each other to remain silent if they all did? Marco himself wasn't sure whether Tyson would be detected as an altered. He was a freak of nature, but was there any checks to make sure if he was one to begin with. What kind of consequences would there be if they got caught? Would the blame fall on him as the main handler or on everyone for not speaking out sooner. There were far too many questions and answers that would only come when they finally got back home. For now, all he could do is wait.