Episode 14: The Shadow Within
222 Words
Darkness.
Captain Voss could hear his own breathing—shallow, unsteady. The bridge was silent, the emergency lights flickering weakly.
Then—a whisper.
"You do not understand… but you will."
Voss forced himself to stand. “Luma, status report!”
Static.
Ng’s voice cut through the quiet. “Systems are… flickering. Power is unstable. But—” He hesitated. “The anomaly… it’s gone.”
Voss’s stomach tightened. “Gone?”
Dr. Rao scanned her console. “There’s no trace of the entity. No gravitational pull. No distortion.”
Ng shook his head. “No. It didn’t disappear. It’s somewhere else.”
Voss turned to Holt, whose face was pale, her fists clenched. “That thing… it spoke in my voice.”
Before anyone could respond, a new sound filled the air.
A slow, rhythmic tapping—metal against metal.
It was coming from inside the ship.
The bridge crew froze.
Then—a footstep.
Voss grabbed his weapon. “Security teams, report!”
No response.
Dr. Rao’s voice was barely a whisper. “Captain… I think something came aboard.”
The lights flickered. The shadows in the hallway seemed to move.
Then, from the darkness, a figure stepped forward.
It was Commander Holt.
But she was still standing beside them.
Two Holts.
Identical.
One breathing. One… wrong.
To be continued…
- Writer
