In one of the tents on the outer edge of the camp, the commanders of the battalion had gathered, despite it being the residence of a simple company of soldiers. Among the group were the two remaining Captains that Justin had yet to assimilate.

  They both wore troubled expressions.

  “Captain, you wanted to say something?”

  One of them turned to the other at the front of the group. The man nodded and stood up. Stretching out the bottom of his uniform, he cleared his throat.

  “It’s clear that something has gotten into the Major, who has confined himself in the medical tent for the past seven hours. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t raise suspicion at mere eccentricities like this, and it's also possible he could have fallen ill, but the fact remains that we are currently carrying out a mission of national importance and our only orders have come from Captain Browne, who was only promoted to his station shortly before this mission. It’s clear to me that these events have also caused some dissatisfaction to arise within our shared companies, have they not?”

  An officer stood up.

  “Indeed. I find myself more than unsettled by the fact that the medical facilities of our camp have suddenly been shut down without much of an explanation! Am I alone in finding this to be suspicious?”

  “Not at all!”

  “Definitely not!”

  “Quite the opposite!”

  Grumbles of agreement came from around the tent. The captain at the front scratched his chin, nodding along as more officers stood up to voice their grievances.

  A split unit was never a good thing, especially when it undermined the authority of the commanding officer. Yet, when a difference of opinion threatened their operation, as it was beginning to with the Major’s lack of appearance, something had to be done. This wasn’t about optics or policy anymore, but ensuring that the mission was carried out.

  Eventually the Captain noticed a theme in the complaints brought up, and spoke again, quieting the group of officers.

  “Alright, it seems that the common conclusion is that our lack of access to medical supplies is the most critical. Our stay in the Jejune will be hazardous, no doubt about it. I don’t want our men getting gangrene just because the med tent is closed, or falling into some crater and not having the facilities to be patched up. I propose we start there, and that a few of us first visit Doctor Meyers to voice our concerns.”

  The tent full of officers agreed. They would send a few of the men in this tent as a courtesy to express their thoughts to the Doctor and the Major, if they didn’t hear them out, well…then they might have to radio high command in that case. That would reflect poorly on their collaborative capabilities, but it was for the sake of their soldiers.

  “Alright, Officers Johnson, Lukas, and Davoss, you’re with me.”

  …

  Meanwhile, in the white tent, Justin was furrowing his brow as he watched an exchange on the other side of the camp through the eyes of Captain Henderson.

  ‘They won’t even let a Captain through? Damn, I might have made an error by killing the Major instead of the Captain.’

  Justin rubbed his chin, contemplating how to get into the armory if that was the case. He had a tight window before reinforcements would show up to the camp, so he couldn’t take his time if he wanted to assimilate as much of the battalion as possible.

  Something he knew was a necessity, if he wanted to gain as many levels as possible to give himself a fighting chance.

  However if he started brazenly assimilating the soldiers, suspicion would quickly devolve into open conflict, due to his still low level and expertise with the act. Something like that, he could only prepare for if he had access to enough arms, and bodies with which to wield them.

  But there was a system in place for the armory that required a keycard to open the gun cases, and Justin had no idea who had it. The likely case was that it was one of the remaining Captains, as he had already searched thoroughly through the Major’s things and there had surprisingly been no such object. But the two Captains left right now were surrounded by a lot of armed soldiers, and Justin had no good way of getting close to them or isolating one of them without appearing more suspicious.

  Justin was not an idiot, even if he fumbled at times due to his inexperience with controlling a network of minds. He knew that the soldiers had started to suspect something, even if their guesses were still wildly off from reality.

  ‘Either way, I have to act soon, and perhaps openly. I can either leave now with my small network and risk starving in this desert or being hunted down, or I attempt to gather a larger force and risk annihilation in an open conflict with the remaining battalion or the reinforcements.’

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  Neither option filled him with glee, but Justin had experience in making hard decisions.

  ‘Ultimately I can’t risk…’

  “Major Sark?”

  ‘Hmm?’

  Justin’s trail of thought was interrupted by a sudden voice from outside the tent. It was one he didn’t recognize, which was odd, considering his network of bodies had been fanning out over the camp for the last few hours and listening to conversations. There were not many left who he hadn’t made some mental note about, now that he had learned the importance of doing his research ahead of time.

  Justin was about to open his mouth to respond, but realized the issue at hand. Of course he couldn’t speak as himself, no one here knew him! He was an outsider, only capable of raising more suspicion. But the Major was dead, so he couldn’t entirely mask his actions. He had to put on a show. Justin’s focus left his own body, reemerging in Captain Browne’s, who had been standing idly right next to him.

  “This is Captain Browne, the Major’s not here. Who is it?”

  Justin waited for a moment, but it was clear there was some hesitation from outside, whoever had spoken was likely one of the suspicious members of the camp. What they were thinking about, he couldn’t guess, but he couldn’t let them catch a glimpse of his main body.

  At this point a mass of writhing tendrils had sprouted out from nearly all the broken sections of his armor, causing a creaking noise to ring out whenever he moved from the stress the metal was under. He had no way to appear remotely like a native, or even his former self now.

  So ‘Captain Brown’ approached the tent’s flap after hearing no response, extricating himself from the interior while being careful not to reveal the other side. He was then face-to-face with a group of four individuals, all of whom wore unsure expressions, save for their frontrunner.

  “Is there a problem…Captain?”

  Justin could at least tell that much from the man’s uniform.

  “Captain Browne, where is the Major?”

  “I’m not sure, I haven’t seen him in several hours. Why are you looking for him?”

  The other Captain furrowed his brow. He felt a slight chill run up his spine from the dispassionate and precise way Browne spoke.

  “Doctor Meyers, is he in there?”

  “Ah, no. The Doctor is probably near the crater, examining the specimen with his team. Is there an issue?”

  Meyers was actually at the crater with his team at the moment, so let someone try to find fault with that.

  “Browne–”

  The Captain stated as he dropped formalities.

  “---You’re aware that the medical tent has been closed off from the rest of camp?”

  Browne gave a quick backward glance.

  “The same tent you just emerged from, yes. The same tent that many of us saw the Major enter, but never leave. That tent.”

  The Captain pointed behind Browne.

  ‘Of course I’m aware, but I can’t have anyone entering while I’m in here, can I?’

  “Captain, is there such an issue? We’ve only just set up camp, I don’t believe the facilities here should be in such demand?”

  “That’s not the issue, Browne. It’s the Major’s absence. We’re hours away from reinforcements and we’ve received no word from the upper brass or our own battalion commander! Browne, you have to see how this concerns the soldiers here, don’t you?”

  The man emphatically replied, his face getting more heated. One of the officers behind him took the opportunity to add on.

  “And that wounded foreigner was taken in there too, wasn’t he? What’s his status? How come there’s no updates on that?”

  The group of men started to argue further, prodding Browne backward until they were nearly up against the tent’s entrance. Browne’s slender frame remained the only barrier to their entry.

  “Let us through, Captain!”

  “This is a matter of mission security and morale! There is something going on in there, isn’t there?”

  Justin was at a loss for words. How had they found out so quickly?

  Seeing the situation devolve so rapidly in front of him was like watching a sandcastle be swept away by the sea, and he knew it was only a couple of seconds until they charged in and saw the wriggling mass of his main body.

  By that time, conflict would be unavoidable. The wretched second option…it looked like life chose it for him.

  “I can’t–! Wait…”

  Browne’s eyes suddenly lasered in on one shape poking out of the vest of the furious Captain.

  That was it, the keycard! The major must have entrusted it to this very suspicious and willful man, Justin realized. A few thoughts suddenly went through his head, which quickly turned into a kind of makeshift plan.

  ‘This could work, but I have to be fast, and things are going to turn heated. It's become unavoidable.’

  At the same time, a small collective of individuals spread throughout the camp suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and began moving toward one location; all while the face of Captain Browne broke into a faux resignation.

  “Alright, fine. You want to go in, Captain? Then go in. But as you’ll be interrupting the Major’s project at your own risk, I won’t have anything to do with it.”

  Browne suddenly stepped aside, leaving the four men who had been berating him for access baffled. That confusion only lasted for a moment though, as their leader quickly flung open the flag and stepped through.

  In the short moments that followed, eight pairs of eyes widened in horror as a flurry of serrated tentacles descended upon them. Their impulses to scream cut short by the rapid implanting of squirming seeds into their heads.