Imposter System

"Yes, Commander!" The four shouted. The other three left to go store their suits but they already understood the decision Alexis had made. They had frozen in that situation but only Ren had taken action. Matt looked at the girl who helped his wife and was very thankful. The injury she received that made her drop in the rankings consecutively was a lost eye. She wore an eyepatch over her left eye because of it.

"Ren, we didn't have a chance to in a long time. How are you doing?"

"Ah, commander, I am doing fine."

"No need to be formal, we were classmates after all." Alexis gave her a sincere look. Matt could tell that they were good friends in the past but may have had some difficulties along the way. Ren looked down with a guilty expression but didn't say anything.

"Sigh, it wasn't your fault. Anyway, I will be assigning you as the acting-leader. If you feel guilty about what happened back then, make up for it with your effort."

"Yes, Commander!"

Hearing her words, Ren was very enthusiastic. She was excused and went to go rest. All that remained were Alexis, Matt, and the last candidate. He was still unconscious. Alexis decided to call a medical team and leave him, but not before Matt left behind a mark to torture him later. When they returned to their quarters, Alexis went directly to her office and wrote up a report. Meanwhile, Matt went back to reading the rest of the notebook.

Bradshaw's writing was much more fanatical near the end of the book. He began to start talking about someone as an object of his affection. However, it didn't seem like a person. The way he wrote it was like an incredible being. An existence unlike his own. This started making Matt interested. The escaped subject may have Bradshaw under his thumb. Since Martha gave so many evolution points, Bradshaw could have been supplying it.

("Today, I saw Them for the first time. They allowed me to approach as my offering was meaningful. They wished for me to continue developing my research and return with a finished product. I will satisfy Their will.")

'This is the last thing he wrote…'

{Did you finish reading it?}

Alexis noticed he was staring at the wall with a blank look and assumed he was finished with his notebook. Matt blinked a few times and snapped out of his daze. He nodded towards her and went back to his thoughts as they left to catch the end of the dinner hour. This would prove as good evidence later if he was put in a weird position. Matt thought of what he wanted to do inside that 'gatekeeper's' dream. He had a good idea in mind and was excited to execute it.

That night, he activated his Dream Walking and silently infiltrated the man's mind. The position of his body was definitely below. Matt wasn't sure about the distance but he passed through at least ten solid objects. There was no telling what exactly they were, floor or wall, but most of them were floor at least. When he reached the room, he did some scouting and discovered that it was filled with strange apparatuses. He could only guess what they were based on their silhouette.

Matt didn't want to waste anymore time and entered the man's dream. The duration of his Dream Walking was directly related to his mental energy. Since his body was asleep, he couldn't use more than the energy that was already available to him. Matt entered the dream and he noticed the current one was very strange and abstract. There wasn't anything specific happening it was all just randomness. This wasn't unheard of; Matt was just used to more realistic dreams.

The world started to change as soon as Matt entered. His influence warped it and shaped it into something real and vivid. The disembodied man began to form up and become conscious of his dream. The scene was in the centrifuge. Instead of losing, he ended up winning. When he came out victorious and was accepted as the acting-leader, Matt was by his side to congratulate him. When he successfully became the permanent leader, Matt was his secretary. Once Matt established his position next to the man in his dream, he let it go on its own.

At that point, the dream started to expand and more things were happening. Matt simply followed along and half-paid attention to these dull moments that the unimaginative mind was creating. Just as he was about to begin the torture, the scene shifted. Matt was brought with the man to see their boss. The mood had changed completely in the dream's environment. It was dark, damp, and scary. The environment reflected the fear of the dreamer.

They were met by people which had blurry faces. Matt interpreted this as the man had never seen their faces, or could not remember them. Once they reached a pair of blast doors, they were stopped. A scanner lit up and began to go over the two of them. Once they were completely scanned, the red light above the door switched to green followed by a buzzing. The door opened and a large chamber was revealed. There were hundreds of cables running along the ground.

Matt couldn't find a place to step that didn't have a cable. He looked toward the center of the room where these cables converged and felt a dark and mysterious presence. The two approached and Matt gulped. It was possible that this was the man's imagination, however, based on what he saw from the previous time in this dream, he didn't think so. Something like this existed on this ship.

As they approached the center, Matt suddenly felt his consciousness slipping. He had already used up so much time without realizing. He was being pulled back to his body. Matt pushed it as much as he could in order to see what was in the center of this room, but the dream broke and he was dragged out. Frustrated by what happened, he released the remainder of his excess mental energy and shattered the dreamscape. In its place, he had the man in a room that was constantly burning. Since he dared use flames against Alexis, he would feel their wrath for the rest of the night.

Matt took in a sharp breath and sat up in his seat. He immediately took out a notebook and the ship's map. He plotted the course as best as he could and circled a spot on the ship. Alexis had woken up due to his moving around. She crawled over to look at what he was doing so Matt showed her the drawing. She wasn't sure what she was looking at since it was so early so he began to show her what he saw as best as he could.

{That seems like it's somewhere near the main reactor. However, I've never heard of a room filled with cables like that.}

Matt closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of that room. His main theory was that they were all power cabled. Since the room was near the reactor, it would make sense. However, who dares to draw so much power from the ship? Although it is a cold fusion reactor that provides limitless energy, it still occasionally malfunctions or is damaged from over-use. There was no such thing as a perfect energy source, after all. Therefore, the candidates were few and far between.

Willard, Shephard, and the Captain are the only ones he is aware that could pull this off. And based on the context, this was not here originally. It was added later in. Otherwise, such a room would certainly exist. Matt's only clue was that it was somewhere in the lower decks and it was drawing a lot of power. On that subject, Matt wondered what exactly needed that much energy. The obvious answer was some sort of super computer. If Shephard had his hands on a computer more powerful than the AI, it would explain how he was seemingly unaffected by the AI's actions.

Matt wondered if the Captain was aware of such a thing's existence but decided it was best, he didn't bring it up. He had no reason to know of such a room himself without sounding suspicious. Next, he thought about Willard. Although the man was a slimy bastard, he was smart and knew this ship very well. However, he was difficult to work with. Therefore, Matt thought about talking to Scorch. He was a man of few words but each significant. If anyone had a hint about what was happening, it would be him.

Matt flicked on his personal device and checked the time. He wanted to visit Scorch as soon as possible because he was far too awake to sleep at this point. When he activated his decide, he saw Martha's research notes were still open. Then it suddenly hit him.

'No such thing as a perfect energy source… Perfect energy source…'