Mason Tellis / Shift / Growth

Mason was part of a sixteen man fleet sent to the deepest reaches of space by NASA. With recent advances in space travel, the team had been hand picked to lead the first manned mission beyond the solar system. They had settled in rapidly, turning the first planetoid they landed on into a thriving garden. Through various pieces of tech, they had turned this dusky cold rock into a lush, beautiful place, fit for humanity.

Which is good, because they weren't sure when they'd be getting home.

Mason stepped out of his pod, doing his standard morning stretches beneath the light of the artificial sun. He was decked out in his favorite gas mask and walker suit, ready to go get some more samples, when he noticed that something was a bit off. The garden center was only a few meters away, and by this time of morning, everyone was normally out in strength. Yet as he strained his ear, he heard nobody.

"Yo, people? We takin' a sleep in? If I gotta go do sampling, one of y'all's gotta get up too."

No response.

Mason began to move, very carefully. He circled the area, gently knocking on the door of each pod. He didn't hear anything from any of them, his anxiety filtering into his common sense assumption that 'they must just be sleeping'. If nothing else, Amanda should be awake. That woman's blood was probably neon green by now, given her energy drink consumption. He found her life-pod, back near his own, and knocked on the door. From inside, he heard a muffled voice.

"Ssss-fuck off."

Well that explained it.

"Mandy, get your ass out here, somethin's up."

"What part of fuuuuck off..."

Mason heard the shuffling of bedsheets from inside, before the pod door slid open. What it revealed was the blonde, frizzy mop of one of his best friends. She stared up at the gangly assortment of protective clothing and scanners that was her pod-neighbor and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I'm not sampling."

"Well everyone else has either vanished or fallen into a coma. So you can either help me get em up, or y'can help me do my job."

The two of them did the rounds again. Amanda was not nearly as polite, hammering on every door they came across like a gorilla looking for bananas. After the third of these banging sessions, a door opened up, revealing Kelsey and a woman neither of the other two had ever seen before. They were both nude, but for a shared bedsheet.

Kelsey, a short pakistani woman with long black hair put up in a bright, a round, cheerful face, and a body that could only be described as Short-stack, was not quick to offer any explanations. Her dark brown skin was flushed, and her huge almond shaped eyes were looking at anything but the two visitors. Mason was pretty well versed with the biologists incredible shyness, having spent a number of painfully awkward field missions together.

"Who in the fuck are you?" Amanda asked, pointing at the other girl.

This woman was stunning, and quite a bit taller than her sheet-mate. She had electric blue eyes in a plaster white face. Her nose and cheeks were dotted with more freckles than stars in the night sky, and long locks of thick auburn hair spilled down her face, shoulders, and back. What Mason could see of her arms was that they were tight, muscular in a way only years of dedicated exercise and combat training could achieve.

"Amanda. I'm Daisy. Are you injured?"

Daisy... Auburn hair, muscular, sounds like a Swedish T-1000...

"I don't know a fuckin' Daisy, but I do know a..."

"A David," Mason said, finishing her statement.

'Daisy' looked at the two in befuddlement, her eyes appraising both of her teammates. Kelsey, meanwhile, looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole.

Amanda looked like she wanted to say something, but Mason cut her off.

"You two get dressed, we've got something we need to talk about."

Kelsey nodded, leaping for the button to shut the door.

Amanda rounded on the man, "What in the fuck?"

"Listen, something's askew alright? I dunno what just yet, but somethin's happened. I'll bet you a fiver that that's David."

"I mean, I kinda see the resemblance, but she's..."

"I don't know how to explain it, but Kelsey knows somethin'. Just... follow my lead, okay?"

"I mean, sure. This is better than sampling."