[s1e8] Housekeeping 90%

"Captain, the previous seven scans yielded nothing but skin cells and hair follicles consistent with the occupant. He is officially designated as 'Spaced.'"

Aris ignored her. He pulled a small UV torch from his belt and swept it across the wall behind the bunk. There, hidden behind a loose ventilation grate, was a series of tally marks scratched into the metal. Not days. Coordinates. "He wasn't a technician, was he?" Aris whispered. "His file states—"

"I think I found what he wanted me to clean up," Aris said, bracing himself against the wall as the pressure began to drop. [S1E8] Housekeeping

The air recyclers began to whine, pulling air out of the room instead of pushing it in. Aris looked at the tally marks, then at the wooden bird. He realized then that the bird wasn't a memento. He twisted the head of the carving, and a small data-drive slid out into his palm.

Aris stepped inside. The room was sparse—standard issue—except for a small, hand-carved wooden bird on the nightstand. Real wood. A relic from Earth. He picked it up, feeling the grain beneath his thumb. "Captain, the previous seven scans yielded nothing but

Captain Aris stood in the doorway of Unit 402, the room of a man who had vanished three cycles ago. The manifest called this "Housekeeping." In reality, it was an erasure.

"I know what the file says, Elara. But the file doesn't explain why a 'janitor' was tracking the trajectory of the dark-matter harvesters in the outer rim." There, hidden behind a loose ventilation grate, was

Suddenly, the lights flickered. The door to Unit 402 hissed shut and the mag-lock engaged with a heavy thud .