SSSD - Trust Alison

“Ro…” Linda warns.

“What do you mean there were no Americans?” Ro asks, ignoring her.

“I mean that those people weren’t who they said they were,” Alison’s voice is dark and raspy. There’s no telling how long she was out in that weather. She’s in bad shape, but still probably better than Ro, who feels as though she’s on the verge of collapse.

“Who were they?”

“Not who,” Alison replies. Her eyes are on Linda. “What happened here?”

“Something in the ice. It’s copying us. Replacing us,” Ro says, swallowing. “Birgitte. Golda. We think Niv too.”

“Where are the others?”

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t trust them. Don’t trust anyone,” Alison adds with a meaningful look at Linda.

“She could be one of them,” Linda bites out.

“You could be one of them. I could be one of them. But Niv is one of them,” Ro tells her firmly. “We deal with her now. We put her in Golda’s office. Either she broke out, or someone broke in to get her. We think she might be outside.”

“Great,” Alison replies in a voice that’s almost a growl. “Can we call for help?”

“No. We can’t let this creature leave this place,” Linda says firmly.

“You really think we can stop it? Might be one more coming this way,” Alison added, glancing west. “We burned three of them, but I’m not sure about Signe. And I think one of them or maybe just part of one of them stowed away in our ride.”

“Oh!” Linda jumps in surprise and Ro whips around with a jingle of buckles. Marit is behind them, wearing sweatpants and a tee. She looks puzzled.

“Oh, Jesus,” Ro shakes her head. Somehow, she’d all but forgotten about Marit. “Where’s Julie?”

“Ah, she is coming,” Marit says, glancing down the long hallway. She moves aside and Julie arrives, brushing herself off.

“Oh,” Julie says, seeing Alison.

Alison says nothing. She just gazes at the four of them.

“Will you help us?” Ro asks.

It looks like there’s something Alison wants to say, but can’t. She clearly does not believe that all four of the people in front of her are human. The mistrust makes sense if what she’s saying about the American Outpost is true.

“You look pissed,” Ro says.

Alison snorts bitterly. “I came here to kiss pretty Norwegians, not to deal with a fucking alien invasion.”

Ro takes a deep breath. That’s relatable.

“OK,” she says, reaching up to pop the buckles on the flamethrower.

“Ro!”

“Back off,” Ro tells Linda sharply. “I can’t carry this thing. It’s too heavy.” She gazes at Alison for a moment. “You take it.”

“I don’t know how to use it.”

“I’ll show you.” Ro finishes shedding the massive device, wincing as she lowers it to the floor with a clunk. “There. OK? Trust me now?”

Alison doesn’t answer right away.

“We’ll see,” she says. From behind her back, she slowly brings out the knife that she’s been holding out of sight. She lays it down with a slight clatter; her red, frostbitten fingers are trembling.

Ro helps her don the flamethrower and shows her the safety and the trigger. It’s not the most intuitive tool, but it’s also not very complex.

Alison grimaces; the rough straps and sharp buckles are hard on her tortured hands, and although she’s bigger and stronger than Ro by a little, it’s still a considerable weight. She looks determined.

“OK,” she says. “Where’s Niv?”

Linda shakes her head. “Outside, we think.”

“Difficult to be sure,” Julie adds, glancing down the long hallway. There are several ways in and out of the Outpost. The long hallway makes it hard to move around without being seen, but nobody can rule out the possibility that Niv is back inside.

“What do we do?” Ro asks, and there’s no immediate answer. Linda’s been decisive about what to do because she started out with more of an understanding of what these things were capable of, but she’s a scientist, not a tactician. The same goes for the others. Ro is certainly no alien hunter. The way she sees it, they can either try to find Niv or lock this place down to keep her out.

Find Niv?

Or try to make the Outpost secure?