the abyss never seemed so inviting

Or:

ONLY ONE CREWMATE WAS INFECTED DURING THE HULL BREACH.

Table of Contents

I. (you are here)

I. A HULL BREACH WHERE EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS

By now, most people have been made aware of EP. 1’s Hull Breach scene. At about 09:36 in, we get these lovely little tidbits of well-hidden information.

See them?

Orange and Green are flying towards the hull, both empty-handed.

And in the upper right-hand corner, we see a parasitic alien drop down from the ceiling (it specifically happens after the light fixture falls). It lands on the blue Ore+ crate.

And in the next scene, from the other end of the same blue crate, Orange and Green look all scuffed up:

People conclude from this that, before this scene, Green and Orange were Normal Crewmates.

I think that this is only half of the truth, and the result of people not stopping to consider all the facts we’re given.

I agree that someone became an Imposter at this stage.

I do not agree that both Orange and Green did — or that the story requires Green to have been 'turned' at this point.

II. THE TWO-BODY PROBLEM

There is only ever one (1) parasite shown in EP. 1, but two Imposters supposedly result from it.

If we work from the presumption that both Green and Orange were infected during the Hull Breach, then we must accept (among other things):

This is absurd to me.

that one (1) parasite is capable of controlling multiple people at once.

that it is possible for one (1) parasite to control multiple individuals and have those multiple individuals possess different competencies.

that one (1) parasite, capable of controlling multiple people at once, has any incentive to care about as-of-yet unhatched eggs which would realistically just be competition.

There are several problems with these conclusions:

When Orange is ejected, their body is shown to be its own parasite. When Green’s true form is revealed, this, too, is treated as a separate parasite.

Green and Orange are shown to be experienced and inexperienced, respectively. Green derides Orange as being ‘useless’ — if they were controlled by the same parasitic alien, then why would the parasite make one Host less competent than the other?

If Green was capable of splitting themselves up into different, individualised parasites — why bother with their stealth-killing tactics at all? It would be easy enough to split into several parasites and overwhelm the crew with sheer numbers.

III. Other Notes / Concerns

Without delving too deeply into them (as some are theories/analyses all on their own):

Foreshadowing. There is a LOT of it hidden in dialogue.

One of the earliest examples is from EP. 2. After analysing the ‘organic residue’ on White’s body, Blue suggests that it could’ve been something White brought abroad with them or that it could be something White picked up while on the ship itself. This corresponds neatly to Green and Orange, respectively.

Thematic cohesion. The show continuously stresses that MIRA is grossly negligent. What's more negligent to you? Transporting alien eggs and not warning anyone, or having such an inept operation that an Alien Imposter is able to board the ship disguised as an ‘unpaid intern’?

Orange and Green are both scuffed up. No one else is scuffed at all, despite some also hanging on for dear life (Yellow litrally gets head in the face with debris — yet no bruising). Could it be that Orange tried to resist and Green (unable to transform due to the risk of blowing their disguise) just beat the crap out of them (maybe til Orange died), enabling the parasite to possess Orange?

How much do the parasites retain from their Hosts? Imposter!Orange seems unaware that Orange apparently loves salt. They also appear unaware that they do have multiple trust balls. If the parasites don't retain information (or all information) from their Hosts, then it strongly suggests that Green was an Imposter from the start. Otherwise, you have a scenario where Imp!Green goes off to kill someone (White) who they’d never met before as an Imposter.

IV. The Story Still Works Even if Green was Infected Pre-Show

Let's say that Orange wasn't infected at all.

Because Orange was NOT infected:

Orange has no motive to pressure Red to cover up White’s death.

This means the crew is alerted to the odd circumstances of White’s death and that these circumstances are legitimised accordingly.

Orange has no motive to viciously deny the existence of aliens.

Orange likewise has no motive to pursue and kill Lime.

It doesn't make sense to presume Orange was infected sometime after EP.1 because:

this removes the entire purpose (and added horror) of showing the parasite in EP. 1.

It also removes the need for establishing that Lime thinks there's some sort of critter (read: alien) in the vent systems.

Orange’s behaviour post-EP.1 only makes sense if Orange was already an Imposter by then. Orange is the HR Rep of the Skeld — their role is to limit liability for the company. Covering up a death wherein the situation is likely to escalate and result in more death (and which, among other things, could result in the Skeld’s failure of its given mission) is the exact opposite of limiting liability.

If Orange is not infected before they go to the Medbay with Red and Blue, news of the circumstances of White’s death travels — and it will almost certainly yield a meaningful result because White is Privileged™.

White’s death only requires that Green be an Imposter before it happens. It does not require that Green is turned into an Imposter on their first day as an unpaid intern.

Obviously Green was an Imposter when they killed White. So, the question is not 'whether Green was an Imposter'.

The question is 'what is the earliest time Green could've been an Imposter and it would still make sense'?

And the earliest possible time is — before EP. 1, or potentially, the very first time we see Green at rhe episode's beginning.

In short: the story requires that Orange (read: someone with some authority / sway on the ship — bearing in mind that Orange was the only crewmate in relative seclusion during the Hull Breach) be infected during the Hull Breach.

It does not require for Green to have been infected at the same time. Green’s infection could’ve happened earlier and nothing would change from it.

V. A Solution

The alien parasites operate one-parasite-per-body.

The one parasite shown in EP. 1 resulted in exactly one infected person — Orange.

Information we have:

both Orange and Green are Imposters.

Lime thinks there's 'gremlins' in the vent system.

The parasite in EP. 1 falls from the ceiling, of all places — why the ceiling (and why only after a light fixture falls?) as opposed to crawling out from a box of Ore+?

Green killed everyone except for Lime (who was Orange’s lone kill, which happened after Green had already killed 2 people).

Green spoke disparagingly of Orange, calling them (among other things) useless, and viewed other alien parasites as ‘competition’.

Green (pre-Hull Breach) undermines the Head of Security (Purple)'s concerns about safety within seconds of meeting them for the first time.

Blue’s foreshadowing that White may have brought the organic residue (alien) onto the ship with them, or may have picked the residue up while on board.

My conclusions are as follows:

Orange was possessed on the Skeld, during the hull breach. The parasite which possessed them had likely hatched ahead of time, and made its home in the ventilation systems (becoming the 'gremlin' Lime spoke about). In the confusion of the hull breach, it dropped from the ceiling to claim Orange as a host.

or:

I went to refresh my memory on the final episode and included further evidence of two (2) things, and confirmation of a third:

Only one parasite emerges per egg.

Parasites really do operate 'one parasite per body'.

Parasites aren't picky about their Hosts. A live Host is just as 'usable' as a deceased one.

There was only ever one hatched egg on the Skeld. Subsequent eggs were only hatched in the show's finale.

I. Only One Parasite Emerges Per Egg

These first two images show that one egg means one parasite. Relatively self-explanatory.

II. Parasites really do operate 'one parasite per body'.

This second pair of images demonstrates that, for whatever the reason, parasites limit themselves to one parasite per body.

In the subsequent sequence, where Red and Purple kill the parasites via the salt-water cannon — all the Zombified Crewmates (with the exception of White who noticeably never gains a parasite in this same sequence) there is only one set of 'alien goop'. i.e. the bodies were being controlled by one parasite each.

To summarise:

EP. 1 showed only one parasite.

Subsequent episodes showed the crew finding only one cracked egg.

The final episode shows that each egg contains one parasite each.

So: 1 Egg = 1 Parasite, which Infected specifically Orange.

In other words: there was only ever one (host-less) Parasite on the ship itself.

This must be the case because otherwise (assuming only Green was Infected at Hull Breach), you still need to explain:

Why Orange, who was right next to Green, did not notice anything; and,

At what point Orange was infected, considering their behaviour post-Hull Breach, is more consistent with a saboteur than an HR Rep trying to limit the company's liability.

Where a second, host-less alien could have come from, given that the show is relatively explicit in showing that other eggs were only hatched in the final episode.

If there was indeed another hatched alien, why it would Infect Orange specifically versus any other crewmate? Orange is bubbly and the nature of their work means they are constantly liasoning or acting as the intermediary in the crew. Why not go for Purple, Lime or even Blue?

Assuming Green was already Infected resolves all of these issues, for example — Green did notice the parasite. They may have ensured that Orange was infected via physically restraining them (hence the scuff marks on Orange and Green).

III. Parasites aren't picky about their Hosts.

My third point is — THE PARASITES ARE OPPURTUNISTIC, NOT PICKY.

The fanbase on a whole has been assuming that the parasites only attach themselves to deceased hosts. But, in EP. 12, a newly hatched parasite rushes towards Red after they were briefly rendered unconscious after being flung into a crate of Ore+. Moreover, the newly hatched parasites were clearly going after Purple.

The aliens' Hosts don't need to be dead.

They need (it seems) to be stationary enough, or, to be unable to physically resist them.

Keeping this in mind:

If you think back to EP. 1's Hull Breach, Green and Orange switch positions between being flung around and emerging from the other side of the crate. We never see any blood or similar gore there.

So, whatever happened by that crate either did not produce evidence of violence — or, the evidence of violence takes a different form.

Like conspicuous bruising.

Moreover, Green is stumbled over. This could be consistent with Green holding Orange down so the latter could be Infected.

IV. There was only ever one hatched egg on the Skeld.

This was briefly covered above, but I want to bring attention to the very in-your-face exchange between Purple and Green in the final episode.

Purple explicitly asks Green if they could have been hatching eggs all this time.

Green's response clarifies that while they could have been hatching more aliens, they chose not to. Why?

Because: "I like to kill and I hate competition. Where's the fun in letting babies do all the work?"

This is confirmation that there really was only one cracked egg on the Skeld — because Green had no incentive to introduce more 'competition' for themselves.

And if the lone, hatched parasite on the Skeld went on to infect Orange … then

I conclude as follows:

Green was likely an Imposter pre-EP. 1.

Orange was likely the only one infected during the Hull Breach.

The final episode makes it clear that between EP. 1 and EP. 12, there was only ever one hatched alien egg — this being the parasite which Infected Orange.

Parasites aren't picky about their Hosts; a live (but physically restrained or incapacitated) Host works just as well as one already deceased.