SciFi Shorts - Collection One

Starflare Universe – Ghosts-8

“Can anyone give me an explanation that doesn’t involve ghosts?” Joe asked, glancing at those around the table. Some of his crew looked scared, some shifted uncomfortably, but no one offered any suggestions.

“God damn it,” he growled. “It can’t be ghosts. There must be another explanation.”

“If there is then I can’t think what it is,” Victor said. “I’d swear Scott was right there in the room with me, talking to me… blaming me…” He trailed off, eyes cast down.

“Something’s definitely up with the ship,” Janine said. “Displays keep getting corrupted but afterwards it’s as if nothing happened. I can’t find any trace of the problem. It’s not just me. At least half the crew have seen something similar.”

Nods from around the table confirmed what she was saying. Before Joe could say anything else the lights suddenly went out, plunging the room into a darkness only slightly broken by the emergency lighting. Dark shadows surrounded them. The idea of ghosts suddenly seemed a lot less ridiculous to Joe.

“They don’t like us talking about them,” Janine said.

A few seconds later the lights flared into life again, banishing the shadows but not the ice that had settled into Joe’s veins. He shook his head, not ready to give up on other answers yet.

“I’ve been reviewing the data we retrieved from the Sundrenched. Her crew were reporting the same things we’re experiencing — hearing voices, corrupted displays, lighting faults and the like. I refuse to believe it’s a coincidence we started to get the same events just after we spent time over there. Doc, could it be a disease of some sort? Could we all be having hallucinations.”

“I don’t see how. I’ve checked several people’s blood, including mine, and there’s nothing there that shouldn’t be. We’re not picking up any unusual chemicals either. Even if any of that was the case, it wouldn’t explain us all hallucinating the same thing.”

“It could be aliens,” said Blaze, prompting groans and shaking of head. Blaze’s response to anything unusual was to blame aliens. Some of the tension in the group slipped away.

“Yeah,” Janine said, shaking her head. “Because I’ve seen a lot of them running around the ship, haven’t you?”

“Maybe invisible aliens…”

“I know what the cause is,” Doug said, cutting across the conversation. “None of this ever happened before the witch came aboard. She’s messing with our heads somehow, maybe with the systems too. We should never have taken her on board. We should sedate her, or throw her… sedate her. We need to sedate her now.”

Sasha was glaring at Doug, mouth a tight line and hands clenched together. Joe could tell he needed to do something before things got out of hand… or more out of hand. Before he could, Doug was speaking again.

“Don’t worry, Captain. That’s all I had to say, but it needed saying. Maybe you’ll all come to your senses soon. If not, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

He sat back, arms crossed and pointedly not looking in Sasha’s direction. Joe banged his hand on the table, hard.

“That’s enough, Doug! I don’t want to hear anything more out of you on that subject. Whatever is happening I’m certain it has nothing to do with Sasha. We didn’t see a sign of it until we’d been in contact with the Sundrenched. Whatever it is, that’s where it came from.”

“What do you think it is, Captain?” Janine asked.

Joe cursed. He’d hoped they wouldn’t put him on the spot like this. He should have known better. The honest answer was he had no idea and the strange events had him worried, but right then the truth wasn’t what his crew needed to hear.

“I think… I think it may be…”

Joe’s words were interrupted by a deafening crash. Moments later he smelt smoke and alarms started to blare out. He yelled out orders.

“Janine, get to the bridge. Doc, we might have casualties. Granger, find out what the hell that was. Take Sparks with you. Doug, it just might be an attack, or we might have to evac. I want four fighters ready to launch and the shuttles prepared for an urgent exit. Sasha, find us somewhere safe that we can get help or repairs. I don’t care if it’s just an automated repair station, find us somewhere… and somewhere close. Blaze…”

The crew jumped into action. Joe followed Janine and Sasha to the bridge. For the moment there wasn’t much he could do other than wait for other people to give him information, but when it came he needed to be ready to make immediate decisions.