Imposter System

"Hang in there. Don't go now, after all the shit we've had to deal with so far…" Matt immediately began pressing down on her chest in a quick rhythmic pattern. He held the hope that the parasite would kick in and restart her heart. However, he instinctively knew that it had chosen to evacuate rather than preserve the host.

Matt felt annoyed. This was the second time that Alexis ended up in harms way and the second time he was left with damage control. Since her mind had mostly become fused with the parasite, a large portion of her ego would be retained. He would simply need to find a new host for her. The easiest option would be Alexandria just down the hall. However, the child was going to be lost.

Before Matt could accept the retrieval, he heard a familiar sound. It was the sound of the electrical device activating. After a moment, a sudden discharge was released. And a minute later, it discharged again. Suddenly, Alexis woke and started coughing. She was only out for three minutes, not long enough for her brain to be deprived of oxygen. Even if it was damaged, the parasite would have been able to repair most of it.

"What happened? I suddenly felt very small, trapped, and unable to move…" Alexis said, with great confusion. Her face was still pale and she had a cold sweat. Since they were in the cold room, it wouldn't be good for her to stay in any longer so Matt carried her out. If she hadn't just come back from the land of the dead, Matt would have taken the time to address what she said. His senses told him that strange energy had almost completely fused with her parasite.

After a while, Alexis felt a lot better. Her Drug Resistance skill had successfully been acquired and the dose of whatever she was poisoned with had gone below the lethal range. On the way back, Matt received a message on his device. It was easy to figure out who it came from since he was set to be undisturbed. The message contained only a single line of words, but the weight behind them was immeasurable.

("You owe me. -W")

The device that was meant as blackmail was used up in the process of restarting Alexis's heart. Although she would have been fine herself, the child would have been lost. Matt was so angry that he ended up laughing instead. He took a deep breath after they arrived back to their room and sat in front of the food container that Alexis was eating. Meanwhile, Alexis felt tired from her ordeal and decided to take a nap.

There were still five hours until the wedding so Matt decided to do some investigation into the food. It was unclear who was eating which meal since they had very similar palates. Therefore, it was very likely that the poisoning was meant for him. There was no way to discover the true target without first identifying who the assailant is. Since this was a case of poisoning, Matt had considered Willard at first. However, that wouldn't explain why he went out of his way to save Alexis, unless he hoped Matt would be the one unconscious.

However, that just didn't add up. There was no reason to poison Matt again. Therefore, he started considering other options. The captain was really too difficult to read. Matt thought he had a good handle on the way he did things, but it seemed like he was missing a key piece of information to link all of the captain's actions together. However, with his power and reach, a poisoning hours before their wedding seemed farfetched. This event was a chance for him to spread his influence more.

Then the next consideration was the council. This was the most likely suspect. Alexis was next in line to take a council seat and it seemed generally known by the upper echelons. Therefore, the two parties to look at are the person below Alexis in the pecking order, and people that don't want to see her on the council from within. Since the next person down likely wouldn't know of her position in the queue, it would still come back to a core member of the council.

Matt had a list of the council members from his discussion with Alexis previously. He struck off the three members they met at the event since they should still be under the effects of their abilities. Next to be crossed off was a very famous painter from Earth. He had created works that shook the foundations of culture in this century. It was no surprise that he managed to buy his way onto this ship. Apparently, since boarding, he has never left his viewing room and gets all of his meals delivered.

That left six potential suspects. They were all affluent business men with one or two great accomplishments. Well, all except for one. A certain Charles D. Musk, whom is the heir to a massive fortune. The kid had no intelligent bone in his body. Whether it be IQ, EQ, or any other of the intelligences on the spectrum, he was the true cream of the crop of ideocracy. Without his massive inherited wealth, and the luck of being an only child, he could not have afforded to board this ship.

'Yeah, he is certainly the prime suspect. I can't imagine the kind of depraved things he did on Earth with this kind of wealth.' Matt thought.

Even if he wasn't the ringleader for the whole operation, his status was exactly what the council needed as a scapegoat. Therefore, he may as well make a move and get a free kill since the council threw out the bait. The only issue was getting away with it. Well, that would have been an issue a month ago, however, with Matt's new abilities, it will be very simple. This will send a message to those trying to mess with him.

'You mess with what's mine, and I'll destroy what's yours.' Matt thought with a click of his tongue.

Matt returned to his room and decided to lay down next to Alexis to take a nap. His overuse of Detect Life had left him a bit tired and he wanted to be at peak condition for their wedding. Given how many problems there have been up to this point, he sensed that the wedding wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows.

The two of them woke up a few hours later and helped each other get dressed. The wedding dress wasn't too complicated and they managed to get it on with enough time to spare to head to the venue early. During the whole process, they didn't talk or message each other about what happened. They had a tacit agreement to focus on their wedding at this moment and not be dragged down by others.

Frankly, Alexis looked picturesque. If he had the time, he would march up to that famous painter's room and drag him out to do a piece on her. He realized that her innate ability had a physical effect on her body. The parasite had optimized her looks to synergize with her powers. Although Matt was unsure of where the parasite sourced the standard of beauty from, it was likely either from his mind or hers. Regardless, he couldn't stop staring at her.

"You can keep staring, but do it while walking so we don't miss our own wedding." Alexis said while rolling her eyes. Matt could only chuckle and offer up his elbow to walk the lady in the traditional style. Having watched many historical dramas, Alexis was more than capable of playing the part. It was not possible to avoid the crowd this time. The deck that their wedding was being held in was packed with people.

Along the way, they were allowed through the crowd to reach the main room where the actual wedding would happen. Many people congratulated them and some just wanted to see the couple since they had been hearing a lot about this wedding the last few days. There were even the one or two people that scoffed at their antiquated way of thinking. Regardless, Matt and Alexis finally made it to the room and situated themselves in the rest area to wait for the event to start.

"We are finally at this point." Matt said with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, its like a dream come true—literally." Alexis said with a mixture of happiness and nostalgia. She put her hand on her belly and started to have strange thoughts. Ever since she 'died' she felt a lot more distant and detached from the world. It was the nail in the coffin for her transformation to alien first, human second.

"Do you think he will reject me?" Alexis said, not clearly stating her thoughts but Matt understood. He placed his hand over hers and gave her a smile.

"Of course not, you're his mother." Matt said. 'And if he does, I'll brainwash him into worshiping you.'

He kept the latter half to himself.