Kala made up her mind in a split second and slammed her hand onto the button. The door drew open, Vivian barrelled through, and Kala pressed a second button, snapping the door closed and unsealing the walkway. The monster was moving quickly—too quickly to stop itself in time as the walkway retracted—and it tumbled from the edge. Its multitude of limbs flailed uselessly as it fell to splatter itself on the concrete hangar floor.

Kala didn’t wait to see if the fall had killed the monster or if it was already repairing itself. Instead, she pushed on the ship’s accelerator, directing it towards the open hatchway above them.

Neither woman spoke as the ship rose and exited the hangar. Kala gave the shuttle a burst of energy to escape the planet’s weak atmosphere. Vivian took the co-pilot’s seat, scratching at the flaky grime on her forearm. She smelt like smoke, blood, and sweat.

“You let me in,” she said simply.

“Yeah.”

“Are you an idiot? I wouldn’t have let me in.”

“Huh?”

Vivian scowled at her. The expression was comfortingly familiar. “I could be one of the monsters. What if I was just pretending to be chased to get you to open the doors?”

“You weren’t.” Kala gave her companion a weary smile. “Earlier, when we first bumped into each other, I was amazed at how… determined and angry you looked. Then, when you were running for my ship, you actually looked frightened. I’ve never seen either of those expressions on you before. That’s how I knew you were human.”

Vivian raised her eyebrow.

“Stanos—and the other monsters—mimicked their hosts to gain our trust. If you were one of them, you’d have worn an expression I was used to.”

Vivian blinked at her then nodded slowly.

A noise, strangely muffled and deep, made them both jump. Kala turned back to the ship’s screen and gasped. Station 333 was exploding. Billows of reds and yellows consumed the grey buildings, spewing black smoke.

“Looks like someone finally unlocked and lit the propane store,” Vivian said.

They sat in silence, watching as their home burned. The fiery lights gradually died down, and the thick black smoke that rose into the planet’s atmosphere dulled the glow.

“Will that be enough to kill them all?” Vivian asked.

“The creatures? It should get most of them, I guess.”

The monsters weren’t the only living beings to die, though. Kala couldn’t stand watching the burning station. She turned off the screen so that the cockpit was nearly black, illuminated only by the panel’s display screens. She hoped it was too dark for Vivian to see the tear tracks on her face.

“You’re not an idiot,” Vivian said after a pause. “It was wrong of me to call you one.”

Kala blinked in surprise. “Oh. Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “And thanks for looking out for me back there. I don’t know where I’d be without your help.”

“You would be dead,” Vivian said simply.

Kala felt a tired grin grow across her face. “Yeah, okay.”