Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Looking out of the window, Zorja could see stars and galaxies for miles. It really was endless. It wasn't easy being in space, and it certainly wasn't easy leaving everything behind, but sometimes, just sometimes, it was beautiful. She could sit here forever.
"Commander Zorja," it was Sara Jo's voice, "We've got visitors. You're not going to like it..."
Zorja sighed. That could only mean one thing. Journalists. She hated being interrupted when she was stargazing and she hated it even more when that meant it was time to deal with the media. She hated dealing with the space journalists. It was always the same questions, over and over again. Never about the songs, never about the music, but always rude comments and questions about the threat from... no, she didn't want to think about them right now. At least now they had something they could use against them. But that just meant they would ask endlessly about that, too.

"Zorja! Zorja! How are things going for Beovizija?"
Camera flashes flooded the room, they didn't give her any time to react before bombarding her with the same questions she'd heard a thousand times before.
"It is called 'Pesma za Evroviziju' now, "Zorja said, "In fact, didn't I tell you this already? You remember, don't you?"
The blank stares on the journalists' faces told her that they didn't remember, in fact they probably didn't remember much of anything. More random camera flashes even though the room was fully lit.
"And what about the threat from the imposters? How are you going to protect the Starship Belgrade?"
Zorja grinned. Usually she hated this question because she never had a response for it. But now she did. Because now they have a secret weapon. 
Enter Konstrakta. The journalists gasped as she walked into the room. They'd all seen the news articles. Somehow... she could detect them. Was it really true? Some had their doubts.
"And is it true," a journalist said, "That she can really see them?"
"It's true, I can," Konstrakta smiled back but the journalist just shrugged.
"We'll believe it when we see it," the journalist said, leaning back in his chair.
"That's really rude," Zorja said, "Konstrakta's our best shot against these things right now."
"Pffft, whatever, I read it was a hoax and she can't see them, it's not possible to know if they don't reveal themselves, anyway."
"Right, that's it, this meeting is over, see you all next week," Zorja said as she lead Konstrakta out of the room. Zorja couldn't let the journalists upset Konstrakta now, she was their only hope against the imposters.

"Is it true?" Angellina said as Zorja and Konstrakta walked into the main lobby, "She can... see imposters?"
"It's true," was all Konstrakta said.
Ever since she was a little girl and escaped from a group of imposters, Konstrakta had the "gift." The gift to see them. It was said that anyone who saw their true form would go mad. But she was doing okay, all things considered. She'd survived the imposter attack back on Earth and had fled to space with the last remaining remnants of humanity. Now everyone lived in space. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. Everyone missed their real home, but they knew what the alternative was. The planet was ruined thanks to the imposters. There was no way back now. That's just the way it was. The way it will be. Forever.

Later that day, Zorja, Sara and Konstrakta were walking around the ship, when more journalists appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to bombard Konstrakta with more questions.
"There's a news report that says you're a fraud!" one journalist shouted.
"That's not even a question," Konstrakta said.
"Where are the imposters?" another journalist yelled, "If you're so good then find them!"
"Ignore them," Zorja said, "Just keep walking, don't even look at them."
"Are they... always that rude?" Konstrakta asked as the three of them walked back into the main control room.
"Yes," Zorja said, but after seeing the look on Konstrakta's face, she added, "At least recently. But don't worry, you won't be dealing with those guys. I'll deal with the press. As the commander of the ship, that's kinda my job."
Zorja had never had a problem with journalists before, but suddenly, as soon as the competition was announced, extremely rude journalists had started appearing. Now it was every week.
"And you can really see imposters?" Sara asked.
"I can see them, yes," Konstrakta said, "Well, it's more like, I can sense them. But if one is here, then I'll definitely know about it."
"Good, hopefully there won't be any but if there are then... then... then..." Zorja stopped and looked down at the computer screen.
But no, that couldn't be right. This hadn't happened aboard the Starship Belgrade for nearly 40 years. This couldn't be happening, not now.
"Oh... Konstrakta..." Zorja said, not looking up from the controls, "It's..."
"What is it?" Konstrakta said, "What's wrong?"
"There's an imposter onboard," Zorja said, "It says there's an imposter on board the ship."
Konstrakta looked down at the screen.
'POSSIBLE IMPOSTER ON BOARD - 1'
"You know those things don't really work that well, right?" Sara said, "That's why we need Konstrakta."
"Right, I didn't detect anything... but I haven't met everyone yet," Konstrakta said.
"Yeah," Zorja said, "You're right, Konstrakta needs to meet all the new people who have come on board the ship and find any possible imposters among them."
It looked like this contest was going to be much more difficult then anyone first thought. Zorja had never expected an imposter to be at PZE of all places, but if there was one, then she was the commander and she had to deal with that. And Konstrakta knew what she had to do, too. She had to meet everyone else who boarded today and find out who the imposter is. If there even was one. She hoped there wasn't. But she had a funny feeling that there was.

Chapter Text

The next day, Konstrakta went into the green room where a lot of the participants were sitting. Stefan and Kristina, the green room hosts, were there too. Konstrakta guessed they were rehearsing their lines for the big show. But she didn't have time for that. It was time for the interrogations, although she didn't like to think of it like that. She needed to find out if there was an imposter among them.
"Oh, Konstrakta!" Stefan said, "I didn't expect you to be here so early... um... Zorja said you were coming."
"Yes, that's right," Kristina said quietly, almost whispering, "We're not supposed to say anything to the contestants, but Zorja told us last night that there might be an imposter and that you would find out who it is."
"I hope it's wrong," Stefan said, "You know those so-called 'imposter detectors' are outdated and buggy. They're wrong more times than they're right."
Konstrakta was about to say something, when suddenly, she heard a lot of shouting. Looked like someone was causing drama again. And she knew exactly who it was, she recognised that voice anywhere. Aca. Of course it was him. She looked over to the far corner of the green room. Aca Lukas was yelling at VIS Limunada, who all looked seriously confused as to what was going on.
"What about those wigs, huh?" Aca yelled, "Yeah, that's right, no real human would wear those! I think that puts you on the imposter list!"
"W-well, these are just-" Miodrag said, trying to explain himself but Aca kept on yelling.
"Just what? Just imposter gear, that's what!" Aca said as he stood up on a chair.
"It-it's just, well, it's retro you know, like the Beatles and-" Miodrag said but Aca kept yelling about nonsense.
"Stop this Aca, there aren't any imposters here," Angellina said.
"Oh yes there are," Aca said, "I have leaked information that Zorja found out last night that there is an imposter here! And I'm going to find out who it is!"
Gasps were heard around the green room.
"Well it isn't us," Miodrag said, "Look, let's just wait for Konstrakta, and-"
"What's going on in here?" Konstrakta said. Aca turned around. He hadn't expected to see Konstrakta here.
"Konstrakta, you're here," Aca grinned, "Well, time to take a look at these imposters."
"We're not imposters," Miodrag said.
"That's right," said Marija, "And Konstrakta can see imposters, she'll tell you."
"Well Ana?" Aca said, "Time to use your powers..."
Konstrakta looked at VIS Limunada for a second.
"I know imposters, and they're not it," Konstrakta said.
"Oh, whatever," Aca said.
"You're embarrassing yourself, Aca," Zorja said, "Let Konstrakta handle this, she can see them. She'll find out if there's an imposter on board."
"I will find the imposter, ME, the great ACA LUKAS," Aca said, "You won't even need Konstrakta once you've seen MY work."
"I... doubt that Aca," Zorja said.
"Oh yeah, and what have you done?" Aca said, "You're the commander and you do nothing! I should be the commander!"
At that moment, the two green room hosts walked back over. They knew that RTS wouldn't be happy at all if their show became a joke with the contestants fighting each other and throwing around imposter accusations.
"Aca," Stefan said, "Any more of this nonsense from you and you will be expelled from the competition!"
"That's right," Kristina said, "If you have an accusation then you better prove it! Otherwise, shut the hell up!"
"I- you... how dare you, whatever," Aca said, as he walked away from Limunada and slinked off to the other side of the green room where no one else was.
"So. Ana. Do you... have anyone in mind yet?" Zorja asked.
"Not yet," Konstrakta said. But that wasn't entirely true.
There were two people she suspected. 
The first was Momčilo Bajagić, better known as Bajaga. Although he wasn't a contestant, he had wrote lyrics for two of the competing songs and was here at PZE supporting them. He was popular throughout the ex-Yu region with his band Bajaga i Instruktori, but beneath the surface, there were a lot of strange rumours. She'd heard the rumours of course, everyone had, but they were usually dismissed, especially by Bajaga himself who usually laughed it off. They were confined to conspiracy websites, alledging that several musicians popular throughout Yugoslavia were in fact imposters. But there was something that made her feel it could be true. And when it came to imposters, she was usually right. Still, it didn't make sense. Didn't imposters usually... sabotage? It seemed that Bajaga was simply enjoying himself which didn't match her image of an imposter. The second was Aca Lukas. To be honest, she didn't really have a reason to suspect him, and she didn't get any imposter vibes from him, but he was rather unpopular on board the ship. And looking back, Aca trying to shift the blame onto VIS Limunada seemed rather... suspicious. But still, she didn't detect anything from him, so that ruled him out, only leaving-
Almost as if he could tell what she was thinking, Aca walked over and started ranting again.
"That's right," Aca said, "Not these guys, we all know who the imposter really is. Bajaga! We've all heard the rumours!"
"Let's not make any accusations just yet-" Konstrakta began but Aca cut her off.
"No? I thought you said you could see imposters?" Aca said, "But the computer detected one before you."
"That computer doesn't always work," Sara said, "It can't even tell us who it is."
"Right," Zorja said, "Only Konstrakta can tell us that."
"Then let's bring Konstrakta to Bajaga," Aca grinned, "And why isn't he here, by the way? He said he would be here, but he isn't. Oh dear, is he avoiding Konstrakta for some reason?"
Aca then laughed.
"You were just accusing other people a few moments ago," Zorja said, "And now Bajaga? Perhaps you are the imposter..."
"WHAT?" Aca looked offended by the suggestion, "How could you say that? If there's someone who definitely isn't an imposter, it's me! And only me! Any one of you could be a suspect!"
"Aca!" Stefan yelled as he and Kristina came back, "We've already warned you about this!"
"Ok, ok, I'm getting out of here," Aca returned to his corner.
"You get out of here too Konstrakta," Zorja said, rolling her eyes in Aca's direction, "I'll handle this. You see if you can find any imposters elsewhere in the ship."
That made more sense. She hadn't gotten an imposter vibe from anyone currently in the green room so it might be better to look elsewhere. Konstrakta looked back as she walked off and saw Aca still yelling at Zorja and now Angellina too for some reason. How the hell did RTS approve this guy to be on, anyway?

It was time for the next part of the plan. At least it was supposed to be. But as soon as Konstrakta walked out of the room, the 'journalists' were back again.
"Konstrakta," one journalist said, "Don't you think it's time to admit you are a fraud, who can't even see imposters? Perhaps you should withdraw along with all the other 'acts' and hand the trophy over to the real winner - Aca Lukas!"
"Huh?" Konstrakta said, confused, "What? Are you people even journalists or did Aca pay you to be here?"
The journalist went silent, the first time Konstrakta had seen one of them do so. Oh. So that was what was going on.
"You know I don't have time for this, don't you?" Konstrakta said, "I have an imposter to find!"
The journalist ran off, to somewhere else in the spaceship. But this was just a distraction, there was no time for this right now. Right now she needed to concentrate on seeing everyone, so she could rule them out as imposters. Konstrakta went up into the second level of the ship, where the contestants had been staying during the contest. The temporary rooms of each of the contestants were there, almost like a hotel. It was then that she saw Bajaga, putting the key into his door. He was pretty big celebrity around here, so it was neat to see him in person. She just hoped it wasn't actually him that was the imposter.
"Bajaga?" Konstrakta said and he turned round.
"Oh... oh Konstrakta, hey," Bajaga said, and that's when she felt the wave hit her.
She felt it. He was one. It was unmistakable. The feeling was undescribable. She felt dizzy, everything was spinning. There was an imposter there, right in front of her. But what the hell was she going to do now?
"You..." She couldn't get the words out.
"It's not what you think..." Bajaga said, "Can you really... can you really detect..."
"I can," Konstrakta said, "And you, you're one of them."
"Well, you must have heard the rumours right? Everyone has."
"I have, but I didn't think they were actually... wait, what the hell am I doing," Konstrakta said, "Talking to an imposter. You know what this means, don't you?"
Bajaga shrugged.
"Calm down Ana, this doesn't mean anything," he said.
"It means everything, this ship isn't safe with imposters around."
"Oh please," Bajaga said, "I've been here a long time, a lot longer than you."
"The ship says there's a possible imposter detected. So you tripped the system?" Konstrakta asked.
"I didn't," Bajaga said, "At least, I don't think I did. I always mask it really well, I've never tripped a system before, not ever."
"Then why did it trip?"
Bajaga looked at Konstrakta for a moment.
"Well that's obvious..." But then Bajaga stopped for a second, "Uh... maybe it was just a bug?"
"I guess it's possible..."
Konstrakta just stood there for a monent, she'd thought so much about finding the imposter, but she hadn't thought about what she'd do when she finally found one.
"Look, don't tell the others, please. Ask Zorja, she can vouch for me, but don't tell the others."
"Zorja... knows?"
"Y-yeah, seriously? What did they even tell you?"
"They didn't really tell me anything," Konstrakta looked down at the floor.
"Before you came along, I was helping them find dangerous imposters," Bajaga said, "Finding imposters is easy when you are one, takes one to know one, after all. If you don't believe me, just ask Zorja. Please, just ask her."
That... seemed interesting. If he was really helping them then there'd be no trouble at all. But that's if. Konstrakta wasn't sure if she could ever trust an imposter, but maybe she could trust Bajaga.
"Alright, I won't say anything," Konstrakta said, before adding, "For now."
"Thank you. You won't regret this, I promise."

Konstrakta walked back to the command room. She couldn't believe what had just happened. What the hell was she supposed to do now? How the hell was she supposed to keep this secret? Damn it. Aca as the imposter would have been so much easier.
Konstrakta didn't say anything about Bajaga to anyone, she didn't even tell Zorja. Obviously Zorja didn't tell her for some reason, so could she even be trusted now? Right now, Konstrakta was second guessing everything and everyone. How could they have kept this from her? Who else knew about this? But what she did do was tell Zorja of her suspicions about those rude journalists. It made sense to get Aca's fake journalists thrown out so she could deal with this. Plus, they were annoying.
"Oh, I did have a feeling about that one," Zorja said, "It looks like Aca Lukas told them to be here and bother the other contestants with rude questions."
"So, can RTS get rid of them?" Konstrakta asked.
"They all left on another ship a while ago," Zorja said, "I guess you accusing one of them made them all leave. That will certainly make the competition easier, perhaps we'll even get some real journalists here too."
"Right..."
"Konstrakta, are you ok?" Zorja asked, "You're acting a little weird."
"Oh, yeah, never better."

Chapter Text

Konstrakta couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong for the rest of the day. And now she had no idea where Zorja had gone. It wasn't fair to put her in this position. But if Bajaga was the imposter, it was her duty to tell everyone, wasn't it?
Konstrakta went on her phone and searched for what people were saying, and more specifically, she searched for the Bajaga imposter rumours. There was a lot of talk about this on conspiracy websites and even on mainstream social media. She clicked on one of the forum pages.

Lila posted:
Unconfirmed reports of an imposter alert on the ship that's hosting PZE. I wonder who it could be? Hmm. What a mystery.

Molitva posted:
Bajaga is the imposter, everyone has heard the rumours. Who is still denying this?

Lila posted:
I was being sarcastic, everyone knows it's him.

Darko posted:
Oh please. If he is an imposter then why hasn't he done anything for all these years? It's a stupid lie, I don't know who keeps pushing this crap and why but you do realise he could sue everyone calling him an imposter, right?

Molitva posted:
He won't because he is one. lol

Marina posted:
He is one but I don't think he's harmful. Isn't it something like that?

Nevena posted:
We'll find out during PZE, he'll be there and Konstrakta can detect imposters. If he is one, she'll know about it and tell everyone.

Zlatko posted:
Honestly if he is an imposter then going to the same place as Konstrakta would be a really stupid move. It kinda makes me think he isn't one?

Konstrakta scrolled through the forum. These people were counting on her to tell everyone the truth, right? But if he really wasn't harmful, then wouldn't it make more sense to keep it a secret? Not that Bajaga himself had done a good job of keeping it a secret, seeing as it seemed everyone knew. There was only one person who knew the answer to all these questions. Konstrakta had to find him, to talk to him again. She was certain it was the only way to find out what the hell was going on. That would mean talking to an imposter, but if that was what it took to find out the truth, then so be it.

Zorja climbed through the darkness, over piles of boxes and other leftover items. Not a lot of people knew about this place. This was a secret part of the spaceship, you had to climb over a lot of junk and travel through a lot of twists and turns to get here.
Finally, she was here. Outside of that damn building. The light outside the door was on. And that could only mean one thing. He was here. It was time for the meeting with Marko Milićević, better known as Gramophonedzie. The head of the Security Intelligence Agency.
"Zorja, it's a pleasure to see you again. Glad you could make it," Marko grinned.
"You know I don't like meeting you here," Zorja said, "Make it quick."
"Pleased to see you too," Marko laughed, "Ok, I'll get right to it. How is Project Konstrakta coming along?"
"Very well," Zorja said, "All things considered."
"And she doesn't know?"
"She doesn't. At least not yet, anyway."
"Good, good," Marko said, leaning back in his chair, "That's good, that's very good. She will be a very useful asset to us with her skill."
"I hate this, I hate all of this," Zorja said.
"I know you do, I do too. Ok, not really," Marko said, "You've got to understand, this is for the greater good."
"I hate lying to her."
"It's not a lie," Marko said, "We're just, leaving out some parts, it's ok. It's for the good of everyone. Can you imagine the reaction if we told her? Now please."
"She'll find out, eventually..."
"Just like Bajaga..." Marko said.
"Bajaga wanted out of this mess years ago," Zorja sighed.
"And Konstrakta is the perfect replacement," Marko said, "He gets to leave, Konstrakta gets to come in. And she'll be easier to control, since she doesn't know that..."
He trailed off.
"She'll find out," Zorja said, "They all find out in the end. Bajaga found out. They all find out."
"It doesn't matter," Marko said, "By the time Konstrakta finds out she'll leave and we'll have a new one. It's just the way things go around here."
"How many do you think there are, out there, who don't even know?" Zorja said.
"That's not our concern," Marko said, "Stick to the plan and everything will go very well indeed."
"This plan....."
"She'll help us find the imposters," Marko said, "We can defeat them. One day, we could even return to Earth, return to Serbia. Fix everything. Have things be like they were. Isn't that what you want? Isn't that what everyone wants?"
"Yeah but..."
"We're doing this for the good of everyone. You might not think it right now, but in the future, we'll be heroes."
Zorja certainly didn't feel very heroic. They sat there in silence for a while, before Zorja finally said:
"Do you think it's her? That set off the alert? I know it shouldn't be but-"
"What? No way, we have her signature registered just like Bajaga's. It can't be either of them."
"Which means..."
"There's another imposter on board. Maybe. That's right. But I'm sure Konstrakta will find whoever it is quickly. Or who knows, it's probably just another bug in the system."

There he was, sitting outside in the artificial park. It seemed strange, seeing an imposter just sitting there, acting normally. 
"Oh... Konstrakta, I didn't expect you to be here," Bajaga kind of grinned, but kind of looked worried as well.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't rat you out to everyone right now." 
"Well... didn't you talk to Zorja? She knows already, she can explain everything."
"She's not here. You are. You explain it." 
"Look... if it's about the imposter alert then I can't set that thing off, and-" 
"Not about the alert. About you. Why should I trust you?"
"What?" Bajaga seemed taken aback by that, "Hey, come on Ana. You can trust me. I would never hurt anyone and never have."
"But how can we trust an imposter after everything they did? They literally sent me here to stop them. I am here to protect people from them. Imposters literally stole our planet."
"What? Okay, Ana, first of all, I never did any of that stuff. And second of all, you really need to know that-"
Suddenly, they were interrupted by loud yelling. It was Aca Lukas, running towards them.
"And here he is!" Aca laughed, "I knew it, I knew you've been avoiding Konstrakta, you imposter. Well you can't avoid her now."
They both just looked at Aca, stunned. Aca took his phone out and started filming. Probably livestreaming to all his followers.
"Well, go on Konstrakta," Aca said, "Do it. Say he's the imposter. Everyone knows anyway. But let's make this official."
Konstrakta looked at Aca, who had a big grin on his face, and then over to Bajaga, who actually looked terrified at this point.
"Well Konstrakta, what are you waiting for? It is him, isn't it?" Aca started laughing.
"It's... it's not him."
Aca stopped laughing.
"What do you mean it's not him? Of course it's him!" Aca yelled, before talking into his phone, "Look at that guys, I'm a better detector than even Konstrakta. This is just another reason why I should be in charge. Bah, I have better things to do anyway. Unlike you, little Konstrakta, I have a contest to win. See you later, suckers."
And with that, Aca walked away.
"Hey, Ana," Bajaga said as soon as Aca was out of earshot, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it," Konstrakta said.
"No, really," Bajaga said, "You didn't have to do that, but you did. It's because you're a good person. Now, make sure you talk to Zorja when you see her."
"Alright," Konstrakta said, "I'll get to the bottom of this."
Konstrakta walked through the corridor. She needed to find Zorja, and she needed to ask her about all of this. Oh, wait a second, hadn't Bajaga just said there was something Konstrakta needed to know? Right before Aca started shouting at them? Ah, shoot, well that was just another thing she would have to ask about. But not right now. Right now she needed to find Zorja, and she needed to find out if there was another imposter on board. She really hoped that alert was just a glitch. But something told her it probably wasn't.