The movement was instant.
The man on the medical bed inhaled sharply as if his lungs had suddenly remembered how to breathe. His body tensed and the muscles in his arms tightened violently against the restraints Corin had only just begun to place.
Corin stepped back in surprise.
"Aria."
The captain turned immediately.
The man's eyes were open.
They were not the soft brown or gray common among humans. They were a deep crimson color that seemed to glow faintly under the infirmary lights.
For a second he did not move.
Then everything happened at once.
The man jerked upright with unnatural speed.
The medical restraints snapped apart as if they had been made of weak plastic. Metal pieces scattered across the floor while the man swung his legs off the bed and landed silently on the ground.
Lyra reacted instantly.
Her rifle rose in a smooth motion and locked onto the stranger's chest.
"Do not move."
The man did not seem to understand the words.
His eyes moved rapidly across the room, analyzing everything around him with sharp focus. His breathing was steady but tense, like a predator waking in unfamiliar territory.
Ren stepped slightly behind Aria.
"His heart rate just increased dramatically."
Corin held his scanner tightly but did not move closer.
The man slowly lifted his head and looked at each of them one by one.
His gaze lingered briefly on the rifle in Lyra's hands.
Then his eyes shifted toward the door behind them.
Aria noticed the change instantly.
He was looking for an escape route.
Before anyone could react the man moved.
His body launched forward with explosive speed.
Lyra fired.
The energy bolt struck him directly in the chest.
But instead of collapsing, the man simply staggered one step backward.
The glow from the rifle blast faded across his skin as if the energy had been absorbed.
Lyra blinked in disbelief.
"What."
The man looked down briefly at the spot where the blast had hit him. His hand moved slowly over his chest as if feeling something unfamiliar.
Then his eyes snapped back toward Lyra.
This time there was clear hostility in them.
He lunged.
The distance between them disappeared instantly.
Lyra barely managed to step back as the man grabbed the rifle barrel and twisted violently. The weapon tore free from her grip and slammed against the wall behind them.
Ren froze.
Corin moved instinctively toward the medical cabinet.
But the man was not finished.
His body shifted again, preparing for another attack.
Aria stepped forward.
"Stop."
Her voice cut through the room sharply.
For a brief moment the man hesitated.
His crimson eyes locked onto her.
Aria held his gaze calmly.
"We are not your enemies."
The man did not speak.
In fact there was no sign he even understood the language.
But something in her voice had broken his momentum.
His breathing slowed slightly as he studied her face.
Lyra slowly reached for the sidearm on her belt but Aria lifted one hand slightly without looking away from the stranger.
"Do not."
Lyra froze.
The man looked between them again, confusion slowly replacing the aggression in his expression.
Aria took one careful step closer.
"You were on that station," she said calmly. "We brought you here."
The man tilted his head slightly.
The words clearly meant nothing to him.
But he was listening.
Aria continued slowly.
"You are safe."
For several seconds nothing happened.
Then the tension in his shoulders weakened slightly.
The stranger looked around the infirmary again, this time more cautiously than before.
Lyra exhaled quietly.
"Well," she muttered, "that could have gone worse."
Ren swallowed.
"Much worse."
The stranger remained standing in the center of the infirmary.
His breathing had slowed, but the tension in his body had not disappeared. Every movement of the crew was followed carefully by those strange crimson eyes.
Aria noticed something important.
He was not simply looking at them.
He was studying them.
Like someone trying to understand a completely unfamiliar world.
Corin slowly lowered the medical scanner but kept it ready in his hand.
"I am still reading abnormal energy activity in his body," the medic said quietly. "It is not behaving like any biological system I know."
Ren adjusted the data display on his wrist console.
"I am detecting fluctuations as well," he added. "Whatever kept him alive inside that containment pod is still active."
Lyra glanced at the rifle lying across the floor behind the stranger.
"He also does not seem particularly bothered by being shot."
The man suddenly turned his head toward Lyra.
His eyes focused directly on her.
For a moment the room fell silent again.
Then he looked down at his own hands.
Slowly he flexed his fingers, almost as if testing them.
Aria watched carefully.
"What is he doing?" Ren whispered.
"Learning," Aria replied quietly.
The stranger raised his head again.
This time his gaze moved toward Aria.
There was still caution in his expression, but the hostility had faded.
He took a single step forward.
Lyra tensed again.
Aria remained still.
The man stopped only a short distance in front of her.
He seemed slightly taller than she had first thought. His gray skin looked almost smooth under the lights, and faint shadows moved beneath the surface like slow currents.
His eyes stayed fixed on her face.
Then he spoke.
The sound that came from him was low and rough, as if his voice had not been used in a very long time.
But the words were not in any language the crew recognized.
Ren blinked.
"I do not understand that."
Corin shook his head.
"Neither do I."
The stranger frowned slightly.
He spoke again, this time slower.
The same unfamiliar language filled the room.
Lyra rubbed her forehead.
"Great. We rescued an alien."
Aria did not react to the comment.
She simply continued watching him.
Then she spoke again, her voice calm and steady.
"My name is Aria."
She placed one hand lightly against her chest.
"Aria."
The stranger stared at her.
She repeated the motion.
"Aria."
A few seconds passed.
Then he slowly pointed at her.
"Aria."
His pronunciation was rough but clear enough.
Ren looked impressed.
"He is copying the pattern."
Aria nodded once.
"Yes."
The stranger lowered his hand.
For a moment he seemed uncertain again.
Aria pointed at Lyra.
"Lyra."
Lyra gave a small wave.
The stranger repeated the word.
"Lyra."
Aria then gestured toward the others.
"Ren."
"Corin."
The man repeated each name slowly, as if memorizing them.
Finally Aria looked back at him.
"You."
She paused briefly.
"What is your name?"
The stranger stared at her.
His expression slowly changed.
Confusion appeared first.
Then something deeper.
He opened his mouth slightly as if trying to answer.
But no word came.
His eyes shifted downward.
The silence stretched for several seconds.
Ren lowered his voice.
"I do not think he remembers."
Aria studied the stranger carefully.
There was no deception in his expression.
Only uncertainty.
He truly did not know.
She stepped a little closer.
"Then you need one."
The stranger looked up again.
Aria considered him for a moment.
The gray skin.
The red eyes.
The strange energy Corin had detected in his body.
Then she spoke.
"Vex."
The word hung in the air.
The stranger blinked once.
Aria pointed at him.
"Vex."
For a moment he simply stared at her.
Then slowly he repeated the name.
"Vex."
The word lingered in the room.
"Vex."
He spoke it again, this time more clearly. The unfamiliar sound seemed strange to him, but he did not reject it.
Aria nodded slightly.
"Yes. Vex."
For a few seconds the stranger simply stood there, repeating the name quietly under his breath as if testing how it felt.
Lyra crossed her arms.
"Well, that was easier than I expected."
Ren was already typing rapidly into his wrist console.
"I am updating the internal records," he said. "Subject designation Vex."
Corin looked less amused.
"You are both ignoring the more important problem."
Everyone looked toward the medic.
Corin pointed the scanner toward Vex again.
"I am still reading that energy activity inside his body. It is increasing slowly."
Vex tilted his head slightly at the device, watching the medic with curiosity rather than fear.
Aria spoke calmly.
"Is it dangerous?"
Corin hesitated.
"I do not know."
Lyra sighed.
"Comforting."
Before anyone could say more, the ship's intercom crackled.
Toran's voice filled the infirmary.
"Aria."
She tapped the communicator on her wrist.
"Go ahead."
"I think you should come to the bridge," Toran said. "Those creatures from the station did not stay behind."
Lyra straightened immediately.
"That did not take long."
Aria's expression remained calm.
"How many?"
"I cannot give you an exact number yet," Toran replied. "But several life forms appear to have attached themselves to the hull when we undocked."
Ren's eyes widened.
"They followed us."
Corin looked toward the infirmary door.
"Can they get inside?"
"Not if our hull stays intact," Toran answered. "But I would still prefer to remove them before they start chewing through something important."
Lyra picked up her rifle from the floor and checked the power level.
"Finally."
Aria turned toward the door.
"Ren, bring one of your combat units."
Ren nodded quickly.
"I will activate R7."
Corin glanced back at Vex.
"And him?"
All eyes shifted toward the gray skinned stranger.
Vex had been quietly observing the entire conversation.
He clearly did not understand the words, but he seemed aware that something was happening.
His red eyes moved from face to face.
Aria studied him carefully.
For a moment she considered leaving him in the infirmary.
But something about the way he stood there, alert and aware, made her reconsider.
"You are coming with us," she said.
Of course he did not understand the sentence.
But when she motioned toward the door, he followed without hesitation.
Lyra watched him closely as they moved through the corridor toward the main cargo section.
"You are very trusting for someone who woke up five minutes ago," she muttered.
Ren walked ahead while activating the combat robot.
The machine stepped out from a storage bay with heavy metallic movements. Its sensor array lit up as it connected to Ren's control system.
R7 turned toward the airlock corridor.
"External parasites detected," Ren reported.
The group reached the secondary hatch that led to the outer maintenance platform.
Through the thick observation window they could already see movement outside.
Dark shapes crawled across the hull plating of the ship.
The same creatures they had fought on the station.
Lyra smiled slightly.
"Looks like they really like us."
Aria activated the hatch controls.
The outer airlock began cycling.
Lyra positioned herself beside the door with her rifle ready.
Ren stood behind the combat robot while adjusting its targeting systems.
Corin stayed slightly farther back, watching the monitors.
Vex stood quietly beside Aria.
The airlock indicator turned green.
The outer hatch opened.
Cold starlight flooded into the chamber as several of the parasites clung to the ship's hull just outside.
Lyra fired first.
Energy bolts lit up the darkness of space as the creatures exploded into fragments.
The combat robot stepped forward and joined the attack, its cannons firing controlled bursts.
One of the parasites suddenly leapt through the opening toward the group.
Vex moved before anyone else.
His hand shot forward.
The creature stopped in midair as if it had struck an invisible wall.
For a brief moment it hung there, twitching violently.
Then the parasite collapsed onto the metal floor.
Ren stared in shock.
"I did not detect any weapon discharge."
Lyra slowly lowered her rifle.
"Aria."
She glanced at the captain.
"I think our new friend just did something."