Original: "Sojourn, Chapter Two, Part IV and V"
I wasn't sure if I should have the chapters all reset their Roman numerals, or just continue on. There's some appeal to having it reset, but then that might be confusing. I don't know. What do yoooou people think? Preference one way or the other while reading...?
This chapter has the first "exposition excerpt" of what will hopefully be many. It kind of turned out almost as long as a chapter's section, but it was information I wanted to get out there without having some character explain it to another character who already knows all the information (I hate that in TV shows).
Chapter Two
If the Earth was, indeed, a sentient object (as some erstwhile respectable publications would like the general public to believe), surely it was highly offended by our species' eagerness to leave it in our dust. Not that we were the most considerate guests. But the way we fled her surface, like party-goers scrambling to be the first to leave a dull shindig, surely left poor Gaia feeling like the plainest girl at the prom.
In the Fifth Epoch, when technology had advanced to the point to make travel to other solar systems feasible, overpopulation made it necessary. The American agencies combined forces with the Russians and, as a means of forgiving their debt, brought the Chinese in for good measure. These three powerhouses lit off the first rockets and started an irreversible race to get gone as soon as possible.
The United Kingdom funded its own research. While others shot for distance, the UK focused on the general vicinity of the place they had always called home. They annexed the old neighborhood while the rest of us played pioneer.
Left out of the majority of the scrambling, a half-dozen other countries put together their resources and created their own program. They launched as well, joining the AmeriChinRus Agency (ACRA) in shooting for distance.
The juggernaut soon spread its arms wide, like a spider trying to weave a web around the entire known universe and soon forgot about the planet from which they sprung, like children leaving their parent in an old-age home. They elbowed their way into alien politics, continuing their comparison to rude guests at a party (it was their standard behavior, it seemed, no matter where they went in this wide existence). From a small island in a northern sea, a kingdom became the sole proprietors of Earth and its environs. Those who decided to stay behind and eschew the unknown were known as Nests, and they became citizens of the British Rule.
And during these grand strides, a relatively small conglomeration of tiny nations quietly entered the intergalactic equation. Australia, most of Eastern Europe, and a few friendly Middle Eastern countries created an agency called The Peaceful Sea. Their first vessel launched one hundred and sixty-three years after the first transport shuttle was sent out into the cosmos. The Peaceful Sea, despite their name, did not constrain themselves to peacekeeping. The members adopted a militaristic structure and acted as mercenaries, freelance explorers, treasure hunters, provided escort for dignitaries, and occasionally dabbled in less than legal behavior.
Though the Peaceful Sea was the third-place winner in the struggle to reach the stars, they have arguably succeeded far beyond their predecessors.
-- excerpt from Patre' Beckett's memoir Incomprehensible Ramblings
IV Derelict
Anais Quimby was recumbent in her leather command chair, one boot resting on the edge of her console to keep her balance. As navigator she had the best view on the entire ship. A bank of bright screens topped her console, and the top and bottom of her niche were domes of translucent material that let her see the actual space they were passing through. She was human, although her unusual features had caused more than a few misconceptions. Her ears were small and a touch too close to her temples, and her large eyes dominated her other, smaller features and small chin to make her look like a Creff. She didn't mind the comparison. Creff were sometimes given opportunities where humans faced discrimination. The registrar took one look at her large brown eyes and immediately signed the recommendation for her to become a navigator.
Her domain was small, but she made it cozy. Alien flowers hung on daisy chains around the perimeter of the ceiling. Tiny speakers near the floor played music that she controlled from a little platform that plugged into her console. She could go days at a time without seeing or speaking to another member of the crew, and even then it was usually the captain giving course corrections.
She kept waiting to be bored by watching space, but there was always something to look at. Currently the Paralus was out in the boonies to pick up some Blue Cloth priestess or something. She watched planets roll by on her screen, then craned her neck to look out the windows to see them with her own eyes. They were beautiful and, seeing them, made her believe in an artisan Creator. He cared for His creations, sure, but in the way that a sculptor loved a statue. Beauty was His goal, and he had more than achieved it. Anais wanted to spend the rest of her life exploring the Masterpiece.
A monitor on her board chirped, and she sank back down into her seat to address it. She re-scanned that area of space and saw what had caused the alarm. "Space junk," she said under her breath, but then she looked again at the shape of the thing. It was big for space junk, and oddly symmetrical. It was something artificial, for sure, but not necessarily worth overlooking. She punched in a change of direction and the ship angled itself toward the object.
"Captain Harp, please."
A few seconds later, the reply transmitted over her headset. "Harp. Go ahead."
"We have an object coming up on up-starboard. I'm changing course so we can get a better look at it. Something seems unusual about the size and shape of it. Estimate a visual in three minutes."
"I'm heading up there. I'll take a look."
She turned and hit the pad next to the door so it would be standing open when he arrived, then swiveled her chair back around to face the console. They had to change their bearing to travel up from their previous position, and then angled to the right until they were facing the right direction. She made the changes gradually so the inertial dampeners could accommodate it. She bit her bottom lip, her hands on the controls and moving as if independent from her thought as she leaned forward to watch for the landmark outside.
Josiah Harp entered the room quietly behind her. His head was shaven, but he wore a bushy mustache that obscured his upper lip and made him look vaguely like a cat. Due to an ocular anomaly, he was forced to wear specially designed eyeglasses so information streamed to his earpiece was projected correctly. Anais liked the captain's spectacles. She thought they made him look classy, like old photos from the Days Before.
He rested a hand on the back of her seat and craned his neck to join her search. When he spoke, his voice was light and joking. "Anything yet?"
"Just about got it, Sir. We're..." Her eyes widened. "Oh, wow."
His tone became serious immediately. "That's one of ours, isn't it?"
The ship was still moving ever so slightly, drifting along on some long-ago decided heading when something had made it stop. It matched their design, so his question was unnecessary. Anais knew he only asked to confirm she was seeing the same thing he was.
She looked down at her console. "We're not receiving any IDEC."
"If there was anyone out there to send it, they would be sending a distress signal as well. Bring us up close. I want to see if we can read the markings before we decide to send a team over. Is Commander Cossin on duty?"
"Aye."
"Good. How far away are we?"
"1.2 million kilometers and closing. I should be able to read the side soon."
He nodded. "Contact me when you have the name. I'll have Kira check the registry for any missing or AWOL ships that might have come out this way." He paused at the door. "Good catch, Quimby."
She smiled and increased their speed just a touch. It wasn't every day they stumbled over an honest-to-goodness mystery.
#
They were four days out from Leucothea, and Clare was finally starting to get her space legs back. Even an hour spent planet-side threw her, and it took a while for her body to adjust back to artificial air and gravity. It was one of the reasons she hated breaking atmosphere so much. Give her a ship big enough to get lost in and she could be happy for the rest of her life. She was in the ship's gymnasium, stripped down to shorts and a sleeveless T. She was dripping sweat, the muscles of her arms straining as she held her feet off the ground for as long as she could bear.
When she reached her peak, she slowly lowered herself until her sneakers were flat on the floor, and she released her grip on the leather handholds which she'd been using to support herself. She was toweling off when Nasim Senech wandered past. The Marine stepped past her and put his hand into the alcove where she'd been working, and his hand immediately sank. He whistled appreciatively.
"How high did you turn the gravity?"
"See you for yourself." She picked up her water bottle and smiled around the mouthpiece when he read the screen.
He turned back to her. "Eight? You planning to retire on Sarigo?"
"Just building up my muscle. You never know when I might have to kick your ass."
Nasim snorted. "If you're training for that, you should be down on the target range. You'll need a gun."
Clare said, "Oh, I can already out-draw you. I'm just getting strong in case I have to finish you off." She swung at his midsection and he jumped back, barely avoiding her fist. He grabbed her forearm and yanked her off-balance, and Clare stumbled. He ducked, wrapped his arms around her waist, and she yelled as he straightened up and swung her head toward the rubber mat of the floor. He looked down at her head from between her knees, her feet dangling in the air as she squirmed to get free.
"Say uncle, Commander."
"You fight dirty, you damn jarhead."
He grinned, and then showed his teeth when Clare's comm went off. "You should answer that, Commander."
She glowered at him, her face turning red as she dangled from his arms. He seemed to strain not at all to hold her as she answered the call. "Commander Cossin."
"This is Captain Hart. Where are you?"
"Just hanging around, Captain. Do you need me?"
"We're coming up on a derelict ship. One of ours. Pick a team and gear up. You're heading over to make sure everything is okay."
She patted Nasim's leg, and he bent forward. She braced one hand on the floor and flipped, wavering a bit when she was upright again. "Understood, sir. We'll be ready for a walk in fifteen." She disconnected and said, "Gear up. We've got an excursion."
His smile faded. "I was going to work out."
Clare put a fist next to her eye and rubbed at imaginary tears, pushing out her bottom lip as she walked past him.
"Next time I'll drop you on your head!" A moment later he added, "Ma'am."
She spun around and walked backwards into the locker room. "If you were wondering what I'd have done in that situation for real? I want you to think real hard about where my head was dangling." She leaned forward and then slammed her head backward, and Nasim cringed and moved both hands to cover his midsection. She turned her back to him again and peeled off her sweaty shirt. "Fifteen minutes, Gunny. Don't be the one who holds us up."
V Lost Souls
Terepians are a highly secretive amphibious people who ratified membership in the Peaceful Sea following the near-cataclysm suffered by their planet during the ACRA Attrition of '19. Generally humanoid in appearance, the Terepians stand out due to the green tint to their skin and the ovoid pupil in their eyes. They are extremely private people. Rather than share information even as basic as their name is against their belief system. They therefore choose Earth words to serve as identification when dealing with outsiders. The reason behind their choices are kept as private as anything else they do.
-- Terepian entry from children's encyclopedia The Universe and You! Aliens Aea to Zzhe
Peaceful Sea Vessel Prospekt remained silent on their approach despite countless attempts to contact them. Communications Officer Kira Gray hailed them the standard five times requesting an Identity Establishing Code. Without the IDEC, they were forced to rely on Navigator Quimby reading the name off the side of the vessel. Kira confirmed the vessel had been missing for almost fifteen months.
Clare couldn't stop herself from thinking of another vessel that had been missing for nearly that long. She and the rest of her team suited up together in the airlock, wearing the standard gray trousers and sleeveless shirts underneath the baggy dirt-brown EVO suits. Their Fore-Arms weapon platforms were attached outside the suit sleeve, and Clare slipped her hand around the grip. It was activated by squeezing, and it freed them from having to carry bulky weapons everywhere they went.
Nasim was over the disappointment of missing gym time, if he'd ever been truly put-out. The chance of checking out a true ghost vessel was too good for any of them to pass up. Three lieutenants from Security were also accompanying them: Declan Hass, Tomas Green, and a male Terepian called Articulate Right. They waited until they got confirmation the ship was oriented properly and the hatches were locked before they put on their helmets. The blank screens on the front of their helmets flickered as the cameras situated within activated and replaced the emptiness with a three-dimensional holographic representation of the wearer's head.
"Hass, you have a chrome dome," Clare said.
He reached up and touched the control on the side of his helmet. "Shit. Hold on." The image flickered and then he looked at her. "Better?"
"Well, I can see your face. I wouldn't call that better." She winked at him and turned on the communicator on her chest plate. "Kira, you read me, sweetheart?"
"Readings five by five, Commander. You're all set. Life support on the Prospekt is nil; we're reading zero life signs. You should be all by yourself over there."
"You're going to have to keep me company, cutie."
"I'd never let you get lonely, Commander."
Clare nodded for Green to open the hatch, and the air pushed past them to enter the vacuum of the walkway. Clare checked her watch and nodded when the pressure was equalized. They stepped through and made the three-quarter mile trek to the opposite end. Green used a bypass code to open the hatchway to the other ship, and within minutes they were in an airlock that mirrored the one they had just left. They took a moment to adjust the magnetic levels on their boot soles before continuing on at a normal pace.
Hass and Nasim led the way into the corridor, motioning that it was safe to continue. Clare swept the hall with her right arm, keeping the left at her side. The lights mounted on their weapons platforms danced in oddly skewed patterns on the wall. Everything was pristine, as if the ship had just been inspected and cleared for further duty. She touched the filter reading on her suit and frowned at it. "This place is clean. Really, really clean."
"Some people believe in housekeeping, Commander," Nasim said.
"Foreign concept." She turned to the lieutenants. "Articulate, Hass... go down and check the armory. See if they have any guns we can pilfer. Green, check the lifeboats. They couldn't have gotten an entire crew into the shuttles, but maybe the survivors launched. Nasim, you and I are going to check the bridge."
"How come I have to hang out with the boss?"
"So I can keep my eye on you. Come on."
They split up. The lifts were, of course, off-line, so they used the ladders to ascend from one level to the other. As they climbed out of the access port, Nasim smiled at her.
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"The ship we live on? The one that is identical to this one in almost every way?"
"No."
"Of course not. What does it remind you of?"
Nasim dropped his voice and masked his accent to sound like the foreboding Voice of the Night who broadcast horror stories over the broadwave. "The Ghost of the Cosmos."
"Oh, God," Clare groaned. "I can't believe you listen to that crap. I figured you were more of a Zhenhua Je kind of guy."
"Zhenhua is good, if you want a little smut mixed with your horror. He gives me weird nightmares, though. Alien monsters eat my face and tear me limb from limb, but I kind of like it."
Clare laughed. "Does your girlfriend know what crap you fill your mind with?"
"She's the one who got me hooked. And she likes Zhenhua, too."
"Well, she's dating you. Stands to reason she's a freak."
They were moving from doorway to doorway along the corridor, sweeping the rooms with their platforms before moving on. Everything was in its proper place. Nothing seemed to have been touched. Somehow Clare was more disturbed by that fact than if the vessel had been ransacked. They reached the bridge and Clare went to the computer monitor near the captain's chair. She plugged in her own power source and, giving it a minute to warm up, brushed her thumb over the screen.
"Damn. I need an authorization code."
Nasim had checked the briefing room and was walking back to her. "Try the ship's call numbers. Captain Harp said a lot of them did that." He pointed to the plaque on the far wall and walked over to it. He read out the numbers - 87-32-2092 - and Clare punched them in. The screen came to life with a bevy of options.
"Hey, there we go. Captain Stewart Levin. He was an expansive son of a bitch. We have daily updates, plus smaller entries in between." She saved them to her external drive and scrolled down to the bottom to the final message. It was the official captain's log, and she pressed play as Nasim wandered down one of the corridors that branched upward to the Crow's Nest. After a moment, the captain's face filled the screen. Underneath was the date and time.
"Prospekt is currently en route to the following coordinates to respond to an unusually truncated distress call. Our communications only picked it up for thirty-eight seconds, but we figure it's better safe than sorry way out here in the middle of nowhere." A faint smile. "I know I'd want someone looking for me."
Clare looked at the empty seat and then scanned the rest of the bridge as he continued speaking. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, but she couldn't figure out what. Everything was as it should be. Maybe it was that order, that ordinary appearance, that was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She ran her fingers over the grip of her Fore-Arms and looked back at the screen. She watched the captain's image as he spoke, but his words faded as her mind put the pieces together.
Everything was in its place.
Articulate Right interrupted her train of thought. "Eighty lifeboats, accounted for, Commander. No damage."
Nasim returned from the Crow's Nest. "I found some damage. Scratches on the door. Maybe their Navigator isn't as tidy as Anais, huh?"
"They cleaned up after themselves."
Nasim stopped where he was. His smile was nervous. "Oh, come on. Now who's been reading Zhenhua?"
Her heart slammed against her chest, but she wasn't about to panic based on a hunch. "Kira, can you patch me through to Anais, please?"
"Commander? Are you okay?"
"Now. Please." She felt bad for spooking Kira, as she knew she would by being brusque. She saw that the download of files was done, so she took the drive out and secured it in her pocket. Nasim was tense now, watching her from a position near the door.
"Commander?" Anais' voice was high-pitched, innocent, and hearing it calmed Clare just a little. "Kira said you yelled at her. Are you okay?"
"I don't know. Scan the ship again for life signs."
"I've done it twice since you got over there. There are only five."
Clare drummed her hand on her thigh. "Drop the threshold to ten degrees Celsius."
There was a pause and, when Anais spoke again, her voice was thick with dread. "Oh, no. Commander, get out of there."
"How many?"
"I can't even count. They're in the lowest section of the ship. I think they're hibernating. Commander, get out of there." She was almost shrieking now, but it was unnecessary. Nasim beat Clare to the bridge's door by mere seconds, and they were both shouting into their communicators to Green, Hass and Articulate to get back to the hatch as soon as possible. Clare's harsh breathing echoed inside her helmet, and she saw sweat trickling down the back of Nasim's neck as he ran ahead of her. They disconnected the magnets on their boots when they reached the access ladder and used their hands against the wall to propel themselves. It was dizzying, like falling upward, and Nasim helped Clare crawl onto the right level.
"This can't be really happening," he said.
Anais spoke in Clare's ear again. "Oh, God. They're moving..."
Up ahead, Clare saw the three lieutenants waiting at the hatch. She and Nasim waved for them to go back through. They hesitated, but then Hass urged the other two on. They were halfway down the walkway connecting Prospekt to Paralus when Nasim reached the hatch. He turned, and Clare stopped and urged him onward.
"Go on... go!"
"What about you?"
"I'll be right behind you. Believe me."
He hesitated further, but he moved before Clare had to make it an order. Once he was safely through, she scanned the corridor in both directions.
"Where are they coming from, Anais?"
"Your starboard." She sounded close to tears as Clare turned and lifted both arms.
Clare said, "How long?"
"They're moving fast now. They know you're there."
Captain Harp's voice drowned out the last word of Anais' sentence. "Commander, get your ass off that ship. If this--"
"We need visual confirmation, sir."
She heard the scraping of claws moving along metal surfaces and the sweat under her suit turned ice cold. She swallowed hard and tensed, her hands hovering over the trigger of her Fore-Arms. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nasim waiting for her on the other side of the walkway. She bared her teeth.
"Come on, you assho--"
The first pale-white creature burst into the corridor so quickly Clare took an instinctive step back. It was a male, with a crest fanning out over its beady black eyes. The bottom of its head spread out in a disgusting diamond shape to reveal the maw underneath. The creature's bony shoulders spread out on either side of its crowned head, spindly arms grasping for purchase on the slick floor. It looked at her and widened its mouth so that she could see its hideous tongue and four sharp teeth. It bent its head down toward the floor, braced its four legs and both arms on the ground, and pounded.
Clare opened fire with both barrels and blew its ugly head off just as three more - two females and another male - emerged from the corridor. Their screech was like needles scraping her eardrums as she continued firing, blowing off parts of them as she stepped over the edge of the hatch. She only stopped shooting to push the door shut, wincing as the creatures slammed against the opposite side while she was securing it.
Panting, Clare turned and ran for the opposite end of the walkway as fast as her feet could carry her. Nasim was waiting at the terminus, and his arms wrapped around her and lifted her as easily as he had in the gym. He pivoted, dumped her unceremoniously on the airlock floor, and pulled the hatch shut behind her.
In the sudden silence, the away team could only hear their own panting and gasping. Clare lay flat on her back in the middle of the space, tears burning her eyes. She felt like a little girl who had just woken up from a nightmare, but she knew the nightmare was really only beginning. Above her, Nasim's face was a ghastly pasty color and his bottom lip was trembling. If she was a little girl with a nightmare, he was a boy who'd broken a window. The terror in the room was palatable, but none of them could give voice to it for fear of making it really real.
The inner door of the airlock opened and Captain Harp joined them. Nasim snapped his head up and met Harp's gaze.
"Are we away?"
"We're away." Harp was focused on Clare. "Well? You stayed behind to get visual confirmation." He pressed his lips together and forced himself to ask. "Did you get it?"
"Yes, sir." She swallowed hard and forced the words out. "That ship was killed by Harvestmen. They're back."
Hass slumped against the wall and continued until he was lying on the floor. Everyone in the room stared at him in stunned silence. Despite everything they had done, despite the hairy situations everyone on the crew had been in, none of them had ever actually seen someone pass out cold from sheer fright before.
This chapter has the first "exposition excerpt" of what will hopefully be many. It kind of turned out almost as long as a chapter's section, but it was information I wanted to get out there without having some character explain it to another character who already knows all the information (I hate that in TV shows).
Chapter Two
If the Earth was, indeed, a sentient object (as some erstwhile respectable publications would like the general public to believe), surely it was highly offended by our species' eagerness to leave it in our dust. Not that we were the most considerate guests. But the way we fled her surface, like party-goers scrambling to be the first to leave a dull shindig, surely left poor Gaia feeling like the plainest girl at the prom.
In the Fifth Epoch, when technology had advanced to the point to make travel to other solar systems feasible, overpopulation made it necessary. The American agencies combined forces with the Russians and, as a means of forgiving their debt, brought the Chinese in for good measure. These three powerhouses lit off the first rockets and started an irreversible race to get gone as soon as possible.
The United Kingdom funded its own research. While others shot for distance, the UK focused on the general vicinity of the place they had always called home. They annexed the old neighborhood while the rest of us played pioneer.
Left out of the majority of the scrambling, a half-dozen other countries put together their resources and created their own program. They launched as well, joining the AmeriChinRus Agency (ACRA) in shooting for distance.
The juggernaut soon spread its arms wide, like a spider trying to weave a web around the entire known universe and soon forgot about the planet from which they sprung, like children leaving their parent in an old-age home. They elbowed their way into alien politics, continuing their comparison to rude guests at a party (it was their standard behavior, it seemed, no matter where they went in this wide existence). From a small island in a northern sea, a kingdom became the sole proprietors of Earth and its environs. Those who decided to stay behind and eschew the unknown were known as Nests, and they became citizens of the British Rule.
And during these grand strides, a relatively small conglomeration of tiny nations quietly entered the intergalactic equation. Australia, most of Eastern Europe, and a few friendly Middle Eastern countries created an agency called The Peaceful Sea. Their first vessel launched one hundred and sixty-three years after the first transport shuttle was sent out into the cosmos. The Peaceful Sea, despite their name, did not constrain themselves to peacekeeping. The members adopted a militaristic structure and acted as mercenaries, freelance explorers, treasure hunters, provided escort for dignitaries, and occasionally dabbled in less than legal behavior.
Though the Peaceful Sea was the third-place winner in the struggle to reach the stars, they have arguably succeeded far beyond their predecessors.
-- excerpt from Patre' Beckett's memoir Incomprehensible Ramblings
IV Derelict
Anais Quimby was recumbent in her leather command chair, one boot resting on the edge of her console to keep her balance. As navigator she had the best view on the entire ship. A bank of bright screens topped her console, and the top and bottom of her niche were domes of translucent material that let her see the actual space they were passing through. She was human, although her unusual features had caused more than a few misconceptions. Her ears were small and a touch too close to her temples, and her large eyes dominated her other, smaller features and small chin to make her look like a Creff. She didn't mind the comparison. Creff were sometimes given opportunities where humans faced discrimination. The registrar took one look at her large brown eyes and immediately signed the recommendation for her to become a navigator.
Her domain was small, but she made it cozy. Alien flowers hung on daisy chains around the perimeter of the ceiling. Tiny speakers near the floor played music that she controlled from a little platform that plugged into her console. She could go days at a time without seeing or speaking to another member of the crew, and even then it was usually the captain giving course corrections.
She kept waiting to be bored by watching space, but there was always something to look at. Currently the Paralus was out in the boonies to pick up some Blue Cloth priestess or something. She watched planets roll by on her screen, then craned her neck to look out the windows to see them with her own eyes. They were beautiful and, seeing them, made her believe in an artisan Creator. He cared for His creations, sure, but in the way that a sculptor loved a statue. Beauty was His goal, and he had more than achieved it. Anais wanted to spend the rest of her life exploring the Masterpiece.
A monitor on her board chirped, and she sank back down into her seat to address it. She re-scanned that area of space and saw what had caused the alarm. "Space junk," she said under her breath, but then she looked again at the shape of the thing. It was big for space junk, and oddly symmetrical. It was something artificial, for sure, but not necessarily worth overlooking. She punched in a change of direction and the ship angled itself toward the object.
"Captain Harp, please."
A few seconds later, the reply transmitted over her headset. "Harp. Go ahead."
"We have an object coming up on up-starboard. I'm changing course so we can get a better look at it. Something seems unusual about the size and shape of it. Estimate a visual in three minutes."
"I'm heading up there. I'll take a look."
She turned and hit the pad next to the door so it would be standing open when he arrived, then swiveled her chair back around to face the console. They had to change their bearing to travel up from their previous position, and then angled to the right until they were facing the right direction. She made the changes gradually so the inertial dampeners could accommodate it. She bit her bottom lip, her hands on the controls and moving as if independent from her thought as she leaned forward to watch for the landmark outside.
Josiah Harp entered the room quietly behind her. His head was shaven, but he wore a bushy mustache that obscured his upper lip and made him look vaguely like a cat. Due to an ocular anomaly, he was forced to wear specially designed eyeglasses so information streamed to his earpiece was projected correctly. Anais liked the captain's spectacles. She thought they made him look classy, like old photos from the Days Before.
He rested a hand on the back of her seat and craned his neck to join her search. When he spoke, his voice was light and joking. "Anything yet?"
"Just about got it, Sir. We're..." Her eyes widened. "Oh, wow."
His tone became serious immediately. "That's one of ours, isn't it?"
The ship was still moving ever so slightly, drifting along on some long-ago decided heading when something had made it stop. It matched their design, so his question was unnecessary. Anais knew he only asked to confirm she was seeing the same thing he was.
She looked down at her console. "We're not receiving any IDEC."
"If there was anyone out there to send it, they would be sending a distress signal as well. Bring us up close. I want to see if we can read the markings before we decide to send a team over. Is Commander Cossin on duty?"
"Aye."
"Good. How far away are we?"
"1.2 million kilometers and closing. I should be able to read the side soon."
He nodded. "Contact me when you have the name. I'll have Kira check the registry for any missing or AWOL ships that might have come out this way." He paused at the door. "Good catch, Quimby."
She smiled and increased their speed just a touch. It wasn't every day they stumbled over an honest-to-goodness mystery.
#
They were four days out from Leucothea, and Clare was finally starting to get her space legs back. Even an hour spent planet-side threw her, and it took a while for her body to adjust back to artificial air and gravity. It was one of the reasons she hated breaking atmosphere so much. Give her a ship big enough to get lost in and she could be happy for the rest of her life. She was in the ship's gymnasium, stripped down to shorts and a sleeveless T. She was dripping sweat, the muscles of her arms straining as she held her feet off the ground for as long as she could bear.
When she reached her peak, she slowly lowered herself until her sneakers were flat on the floor, and she released her grip on the leather handholds which she'd been using to support herself. She was toweling off when Nasim Senech wandered past. The Marine stepped past her and put his hand into the alcove where she'd been working, and his hand immediately sank. He whistled appreciatively.
"How high did you turn the gravity?"
"See you for yourself." She picked up her water bottle and smiled around the mouthpiece when he read the screen.
He turned back to her. "Eight? You planning to retire on Sarigo?"
"Just building up my muscle. You never know when I might have to kick your ass."
Nasim snorted. "If you're training for that, you should be down on the target range. You'll need a gun."
Clare said, "Oh, I can already out-draw you. I'm just getting strong in case I have to finish you off." She swung at his midsection and he jumped back, barely avoiding her fist. He grabbed her forearm and yanked her off-balance, and Clare stumbled. He ducked, wrapped his arms around her waist, and she yelled as he straightened up and swung her head toward the rubber mat of the floor. He looked down at her head from between her knees, her feet dangling in the air as she squirmed to get free.
"Say uncle, Commander."
"You fight dirty, you damn jarhead."
He grinned, and then showed his teeth when Clare's comm went off. "You should answer that, Commander."
She glowered at him, her face turning red as she dangled from his arms. He seemed to strain not at all to hold her as she answered the call. "Commander Cossin."
"This is Captain Hart. Where are you?"
"Just hanging around, Captain. Do you need me?"
"We're coming up on a derelict ship. One of ours. Pick a team and gear up. You're heading over to make sure everything is okay."
She patted Nasim's leg, and he bent forward. She braced one hand on the floor and flipped, wavering a bit when she was upright again. "Understood, sir. We'll be ready for a walk in fifteen." She disconnected and said, "Gear up. We've got an excursion."
His smile faded. "I was going to work out."
Clare put a fist next to her eye and rubbed at imaginary tears, pushing out her bottom lip as she walked past him.
"Next time I'll drop you on your head!" A moment later he added, "Ma'am."
She spun around and walked backwards into the locker room. "If you were wondering what I'd have done in that situation for real? I want you to think real hard about where my head was dangling." She leaned forward and then slammed her head backward, and Nasim cringed and moved both hands to cover his midsection. She turned her back to him again and peeled off her sweaty shirt. "Fifteen minutes, Gunny. Don't be the one who holds us up."
V Lost Souls
Terepians are a highly secretive amphibious people who ratified membership in the Peaceful Sea following the near-cataclysm suffered by their planet during the ACRA Attrition of '19. Generally humanoid in appearance, the Terepians stand out due to the green tint to their skin and the ovoid pupil in their eyes. They are extremely private people. Rather than share information even as basic as their name is against their belief system. They therefore choose Earth words to serve as identification when dealing with outsiders. The reason behind their choices are kept as private as anything else they do.
-- Terepian entry from children's encyclopedia The Universe and You! Aliens Aea to Zzhe
Peaceful Sea Vessel Prospekt remained silent on their approach despite countless attempts to contact them. Communications Officer Kira Gray hailed them the standard five times requesting an Identity Establishing Code. Without the IDEC, they were forced to rely on Navigator Quimby reading the name off the side of the vessel. Kira confirmed the vessel had been missing for almost fifteen months.
Clare couldn't stop herself from thinking of another vessel that had been missing for nearly that long. She and the rest of her team suited up together in the airlock, wearing the standard gray trousers and sleeveless shirts underneath the baggy dirt-brown EVO suits. Their Fore-Arms weapon platforms were attached outside the suit sleeve, and Clare slipped her hand around the grip. It was activated by squeezing, and it freed them from having to carry bulky weapons everywhere they went.
Nasim was over the disappointment of missing gym time, if he'd ever been truly put-out. The chance of checking out a true ghost vessel was too good for any of them to pass up. Three lieutenants from Security were also accompanying them: Declan Hass, Tomas Green, and a male Terepian called Articulate Right. They waited until they got confirmation the ship was oriented properly and the hatches were locked before they put on their helmets. The blank screens on the front of their helmets flickered as the cameras situated within activated and replaced the emptiness with a three-dimensional holographic representation of the wearer's head.
"Hass, you have a chrome dome," Clare said.
He reached up and touched the control on the side of his helmet. "Shit. Hold on." The image flickered and then he looked at her. "Better?"
"Well, I can see your face. I wouldn't call that better." She winked at him and turned on the communicator on her chest plate. "Kira, you read me, sweetheart?"
"Readings five by five, Commander. You're all set. Life support on the Prospekt is nil; we're reading zero life signs. You should be all by yourself over there."
"You're going to have to keep me company, cutie."
"I'd never let you get lonely, Commander."
Clare nodded for Green to open the hatch, and the air pushed past them to enter the vacuum of the walkway. Clare checked her watch and nodded when the pressure was equalized. They stepped through and made the three-quarter mile trek to the opposite end. Green used a bypass code to open the hatchway to the other ship, and within minutes they were in an airlock that mirrored the one they had just left. They took a moment to adjust the magnetic levels on their boot soles before continuing on at a normal pace.
Hass and Nasim led the way into the corridor, motioning that it was safe to continue. Clare swept the hall with her right arm, keeping the left at her side. The lights mounted on their weapons platforms danced in oddly skewed patterns on the wall. Everything was pristine, as if the ship had just been inspected and cleared for further duty. She touched the filter reading on her suit and frowned at it. "This place is clean. Really, really clean."
"Some people believe in housekeeping, Commander," Nasim said.
"Foreign concept." She turned to the lieutenants. "Articulate, Hass... go down and check the armory. See if they have any guns we can pilfer. Green, check the lifeboats. They couldn't have gotten an entire crew into the shuttles, but maybe the survivors launched. Nasim, you and I are going to check the bridge."
"How come I have to hang out with the boss?"
"So I can keep my eye on you. Come on."
They split up. The lifts were, of course, off-line, so they used the ladders to ascend from one level to the other. As they climbed out of the access port, Nasim smiled at her.
"You know what this reminds me of?"
"The ship we live on? The one that is identical to this one in almost every way?"
"No."
"Of course not. What does it remind you of?"
Nasim dropped his voice and masked his accent to sound like the foreboding Voice of the Night who broadcast horror stories over the broadwave. "The Ghost of the Cosmos."
"Oh, God," Clare groaned. "I can't believe you listen to that crap. I figured you were more of a Zhenhua Je kind of guy."
"Zhenhua is good, if you want a little smut mixed with your horror. He gives me weird nightmares, though. Alien monsters eat my face and tear me limb from limb, but I kind of like it."
Clare laughed. "Does your girlfriend know what crap you fill your mind with?"
"She's the one who got me hooked. And she likes Zhenhua, too."
"Well, she's dating you. Stands to reason she's a freak."
They were moving from doorway to doorway along the corridor, sweeping the rooms with their platforms before moving on. Everything was in its proper place. Nothing seemed to have been touched. Somehow Clare was more disturbed by that fact than if the vessel had been ransacked. They reached the bridge and Clare went to the computer monitor near the captain's chair. She plugged in her own power source and, giving it a minute to warm up, brushed her thumb over the screen.
"Damn. I need an authorization code."
Nasim had checked the briefing room and was walking back to her. "Try the ship's call numbers. Captain Harp said a lot of them did that." He pointed to the plaque on the far wall and walked over to it. He read out the numbers - 87-32-2092 - and Clare punched them in. The screen came to life with a bevy of options.
"Hey, there we go. Captain Stewart Levin. He was an expansive son of a bitch. We have daily updates, plus smaller entries in between." She saved them to her external drive and scrolled down to the bottom to the final message. It was the official captain's log, and she pressed play as Nasim wandered down one of the corridors that branched upward to the Crow's Nest. After a moment, the captain's face filled the screen. Underneath was the date and time.
"Prospekt is currently en route to the following coordinates to respond to an unusually truncated distress call. Our communications only picked it up for thirty-eight seconds, but we figure it's better safe than sorry way out here in the middle of nowhere." A faint smile. "I know I'd want someone looking for me."
Clare looked at the empty seat and then scanned the rest of the bridge as he continued speaking. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, but she couldn't figure out what. Everything was as it should be. Maybe it was that order, that ordinary appearance, that was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She ran her fingers over the grip of her Fore-Arms and looked back at the screen. She watched the captain's image as he spoke, but his words faded as her mind put the pieces together.
Everything was in its place.
Articulate Right interrupted her train of thought. "Eighty lifeboats, accounted for, Commander. No damage."
Nasim returned from the Crow's Nest. "I found some damage. Scratches on the door. Maybe their Navigator isn't as tidy as Anais, huh?"
"They cleaned up after themselves."
Nasim stopped where he was. His smile was nervous. "Oh, come on. Now who's been reading Zhenhua?"
Her heart slammed against her chest, but she wasn't about to panic based on a hunch. "Kira, can you patch me through to Anais, please?"
"Commander? Are you okay?"
"Now. Please." She felt bad for spooking Kira, as she knew she would by being brusque. She saw that the download of files was done, so she took the drive out and secured it in her pocket. Nasim was tense now, watching her from a position near the door.
"Commander?" Anais' voice was high-pitched, innocent, and hearing it calmed Clare just a little. "Kira said you yelled at her. Are you okay?"
"I don't know. Scan the ship again for life signs."
"I've done it twice since you got over there. There are only five."
Clare drummed her hand on her thigh. "Drop the threshold to ten degrees Celsius."
There was a pause and, when Anais spoke again, her voice was thick with dread. "Oh, no. Commander, get out of there."
"How many?"
"I can't even count. They're in the lowest section of the ship. I think they're hibernating. Commander, get out of there." She was almost shrieking now, but it was unnecessary. Nasim beat Clare to the bridge's door by mere seconds, and they were both shouting into their communicators to Green, Hass and Articulate to get back to the hatch as soon as possible. Clare's harsh breathing echoed inside her helmet, and she saw sweat trickling down the back of Nasim's neck as he ran ahead of her. They disconnected the magnets on their boots when they reached the access ladder and used their hands against the wall to propel themselves. It was dizzying, like falling upward, and Nasim helped Clare crawl onto the right level.
"This can't be really happening," he said.
Anais spoke in Clare's ear again. "Oh, God. They're moving..."
Up ahead, Clare saw the three lieutenants waiting at the hatch. She and Nasim waved for them to go back through. They hesitated, but then Hass urged the other two on. They were halfway down the walkway connecting Prospekt to Paralus when Nasim reached the hatch. He turned, and Clare stopped and urged him onward.
"Go on... go!"
"What about you?"
"I'll be right behind you. Believe me."
He hesitated further, but he moved before Clare had to make it an order. Once he was safely through, she scanned the corridor in both directions.
"Where are they coming from, Anais?"
"Your starboard." She sounded close to tears as Clare turned and lifted both arms.
Clare said, "How long?"
"They're moving fast now. They know you're there."
Captain Harp's voice drowned out the last word of Anais' sentence. "Commander, get your ass off that ship. If this--"
"We need visual confirmation, sir."
She heard the scraping of claws moving along metal surfaces and the sweat under her suit turned ice cold. She swallowed hard and tensed, her hands hovering over the trigger of her Fore-Arms. From the corner of her eye, she saw Nasim waiting for her on the other side of the walkway. She bared her teeth.
"Come on, you assho--"
The first pale-white creature burst into the corridor so quickly Clare took an instinctive step back. It was a male, with a crest fanning out over its beady black eyes. The bottom of its head spread out in a disgusting diamond shape to reveal the maw underneath. The creature's bony shoulders spread out on either side of its crowned head, spindly arms grasping for purchase on the slick floor. It looked at her and widened its mouth so that she could see its hideous tongue and four sharp teeth. It bent its head down toward the floor, braced its four legs and both arms on the ground, and pounded.
Clare opened fire with both barrels and blew its ugly head off just as three more - two females and another male - emerged from the corridor. Their screech was like needles scraping her eardrums as she continued firing, blowing off parts of them as she stepped over the edge of the hatch. She only stopped shooting to push the door shut, wincing as the creatures slammed against the opposite side while she was securing it.
Panting, Clare turned and ran for the opposite end of the walkway as fast as her feet could carry her. Nasim was waiting at the terminus, and his arms wrapped around her and lifted her as easily as he had in the gym. He pivoted, dumped her unceremoniously on the airlock floor, and pulled the hatch shut behind her.
In the sudden silence, the away team could only hear their own panting and gasping. Clare lay flat on her back in the middle of the space, tears burning her eyes. She felt like a little girl who had just woken up from a nightmare, but she knew the nightmare was really only beginning. Above her, Nasim's face was a ghastly pasty color and his bottom lip was trembling. If she was a little girl with a nightmare, he was a boy who'd broken a window. The terror in the room was palatable, but none of them could give voice to it for fear of making it really real.
The inner door of the airlock opened and Captain Harp joined them. Nasim snapped his head up and met Harp's gaze.
"Are we away?"
"We're away." Harp was focused on Clare. "Well? You stayed behind to get visual confirmation." He pressed his lips together and forced himself to ask. "Did you get it?"
"Yes, sir." She swallowed hard and forced the words out. "That ship was killed by Harvestmen. They're back."
Hass slumped against the wall and continued until he was lying on the floor. Everyone in the room stared at him in stunned silence. Despite everything they had done, despite the hairy situations everyone on the crew had been in, none of them had ever actually seen someone pass out cold from sheer fright before.