Ghosts of the Vale

by Paul Grover

  “Yes,” Zenia replied.

  The drone broke free of the towers and its ascent speed quickened. Barnes spun the camera through 180 degrees. The city spread out in every direction, bordered only by the black forest.

  Barnes swivelled the drone to view the spire. It tapered to a point and appeared to connect to the inner surface of the sphere.

  “I assume that will be where the answers are,” Tish said.

  “You assume correctly,” Zenia replied. Mira did not know for certain if there was a hostility in Zenia’s tone but she saw anger flash in Tish’s eyes.

  “If you like that you will love this…” Barnes said.

  Mira turned her attention back to the screen. Barnes had pointed the camera back down to the city.

  “I’m tracking heat sources. Those service bugs, they are everywhere…”

  Mira reached for her weapon. She scanned the towers. She thought she saw movement but suspected it was her eyes deceiving her.

  A minute stretched into five, then ten.

  Nothing happened.

  “I estimate a hundred close to us,” Barnes said. “They are not doing anything other than moving around the towers. Might be a standard maintenance pattern.”

  Zenia remained silent.

  “I’m going to make an assumption,” Mira said. “If Rosa came this way, the fountain would be her best option for water. Let’s wait up there for a while and see what happens. Rich, keep the drone active and tell me the second one of those bugs moves or Rosa pops into sight.”

  “Big A, Mira.”

  They moved to the end of the concourse and stepped off the black surface onto soft soil.

  The ground rose slightly and they arrived the fountain. It was a circular bowl-like depression with four jets of water rising into the air at the centre.

  “Look at this,” Barnes said. He had one foot in the water, the other raised on the bank. “Someone has been here.”

  Mira followed his gaze, a rut had been worn into the ground close to the fountain. She could also see drag marks in the dense black soil; something had been dragged over the ground.

  “Rosa is alive,” Mira said.

  Barnes shrugged. “Maybe, hard to tell how old these marks are but they imply multiple visits.”

  Mira slipped her pack off; the others followed. Alex produced a packet of the crackers Zenia was fond of and gave them to her. She was becoming more human in her facial expressions and the way she moved. Her hair danced in the light breeze and she brushed it with annoyance from of her eyes.

  She’s learning to be like us, Mira thought, with growing empathy. She wondered why Tish felt such animosity toward her.

  Zenia sat apart from the group, staring into the distance. Alex walked over and sat with her, talking quietly. There was a side to Alex she was only beginning to see.

  Mira sat. The ground was cool and slightly damp. It flexed beneath her but was hard and unnatural to her touch. She gestured for Tish to join her.

  “I want to ask you something,” Mira said.

  “Okay?”

  “This is a strong crew,” Mira said. “I forgot how well we work together.”

  “I know. I missed them. It’s like they never left,” Tish said.

  “I scoped out Vic’s ship. It started out as a freighter…” Mira started to explain her idea, Tish was one step ahead.

  “You want to turn the Second Chance into a gunboat?” she asked. Her voice was excited, her pupils widened.

  “Hoff’s analysis made me think. If we have to fight I need a ship I trust and a crew I can depend on. I don’t want a Steelside. Even the Nemesis is too hands off.”

  Tish sucked on her bottom lip.

  “We can do it… It’s been done before but I can do it better. It’s drastic but we should cut her in half just aft of the forward pressure seal. We can insert an extra section of hull and take her overall length to 600 metres.”

  “Won’t that affect performance?”

  “Not in a vacuum, maybe a little in atmosphere. But that extra 80 metres will allow us to up-rate the power plant with some Verani tech and install two internal torpedo tubes. Externally we can mount four cannons, a rail gun and a close quarter defence system. We will need to improve the energy shield and the hull plating. Just my initial thoughts, I would need time to come up with something more detailed. We used Void Spirits on the Nemesis. They are hard to program; Kawasaki or Honda units would be better suited…”

  Tish had come up with a spec in less time than Mira thought of the initial suggestion. The tension in Tish’s face slipped away now she had something to occupy her mind.

  “Won’t be cheap,” Mira said, maybe it was a bad idea.

  “So we get Lightfoot to pay. They need ships and crews; let’s give him one.”

  It made sense. Crews took time to build and gel. She trusted everyone on her ship and was sure it was reciprocal. When they arrived on Mizarma, she would talk it over with Jon Flynt.

  “So we’re going to war?”

  “Not if I can help it but we can’t be certain of anything.” Mira gestured around her. “Look at this place, Amy told me the Blackened were more advanced than the Pharn. If this is Pharn technology, I can only guess what the Blackened are capable of.”

  An alarm chimed on Barnes’ datapad.

  “Movement!” he said. “Ground level, three blocks away. It’s her.”

  Mira leapt to her feet.

  “Rich, you guide us in; Z you stay with him.” She grabbed her laser rifle. “Alex, Tish you are with me. Let’s go!”

  They struck off in the direction of the dark towers. Barnes’ voice crackled in Mira’s ear.

  “Something spooked her. She’s heading back the way she came. She’s moving fast. You need to pick up the pace.”

  Mira broke into a sprint. Tish’s boots clicked on the hard surface behind her. Alex thundered along behind them both.

  Mira rounded the corner into another wide avenue.

  “You should be right on her, Mira,” Barnes directed.

  Mira slowed. The shadows cast by the towers were deep here. A shadowy figure ducked around a corner.

  Mira followed and found herself at a dead end. Towers rose high around them. There were no gaps or access paths between them.

  “There,” Tish pointed to dark aperture leading down. Mira activated her shoulder lamp and cautiously entered the structure. Tish’s lamp bobbed over her shoulder.

  “Alex, stay outside, just in case,” Mira called back.

  The room was a hollow cave, littered with empty food sachets and water bottles. A grubby bedroll lay in one corner. A frightened woman cowered in the corner, her eyes wide with terror, her face streaked with grime. Mira fought back a gag reflex at the overpowering stench in the room.

  “It’s okay, we are here to help. We are human. You’re Rosa right?”

  The woman nodded, a whimper escaping her lips.

  Mira unclipped her canteen from her webbing.

  “We found your ship, the Torrence. It made it to Baikonur. We came to find you.”

  Mira held the aluminium bottle out. Rosa took it with a thin, shaking hand.

  “My name is Mira Thorn. This is Tish. We have a ship and we will take you home, back to your little girl.”

  Rosa drained the canteen and gave it back.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was looking for water when I saw you. I panicked. I thought you were the bad people, from the ship. Do you have any food?”

  Tish pulled an energy bar from her webbing and gave it to her. Rosa relaxed a little. Her eyes were still wide, her breathing rapid and shallow.

  “Thank you. Are you Navy?” she asked.

  “Not any more, there have been some changes.”

  “Tell us what happened?” Tish asked. “Tell me about Jack… is Jack your husband?”

  “No… it was a… space thing… I don’t like to be alone.” A blush coloured her cheeks.

  Mira rubbed her arm. “I understand. I’ve
had a few space things in my time.”

  Rosa told her story from when they had jumped into the system.

  “We came to survey this thing.” She gestured to the surrounding area. “We found another ship in orbit. It was sending a distress call. Carson wanted to ignore it, but I told him we had to respond, do our duty.”

  “What goes around, comes around,” Tish added.

  “Si.” Rosa swallowed. “Jack, Carson and our Captain, Ty Moore, went over to investigate… The ship was… it was like nothing…”

  “We saw it,” Mira replied. “Pretty fucked up, huh?”

  “Yes…” Rosa replied in deadpan tone. She was pretty, not much older than Tish but with galaxy weary eyes.

  “Ty tore his suit and something got inside. Denny treated him but he went crazy. Jack… Jack killed him; he had to. Those roots grew out of his body and more of that stuff got into the air.”

  “It must have been tough to see it happen,” Mira said. She reminded herself Rosa was a civilian. The Corps had prepared Mira for all the horrors war could offer and she had still found herself sickened by the sights she had witnessed on the Sagan.

  “I took command, told Carson to shove his job and pulled us clear of the energy field. I fired off a distress beacon. The other ship came in quickly. It was like it had been here all along.”

  “Can you remember what type of ship it was?” Tish asked.

  Rosa shook her head.

  “He had no transponder; kept his comms silent. He docked and a rescue team came aboard. They shot Denny… Carson hid in the hold like a fucking coward. Asshole… Jack shoved me in the pod and blew me out. I guess he…” Her lip quivered.

  “His body was not on the ship Rosa; he was captured or maybe made it to Baikonur. I think he might be alive.” Mira put a hand on Rosa’s shoulder.

  “I don’t understand. I did not set a course for Baikonur. I plotted a jump to nowhere so we could work out what to do next. Carson must have survived. He was not much of a pilot.”

  Mira told her how she found Carson in the pilot’s chair. “I’m certain he died in the crash. He must have plotted a new course or used an archived jump solution.”

  Rosa cursed in Spanish.

  The woman seemed to be in reasonable physical condition but Mira could detect how mentally fragile she was. In Rosa’s traumatised gaze Mira saw her former self staring back.

  “Rosa, I’ll take you back to our ship. You’ll be safe there and we have a doctor. It’s near your pod. Are you hurt? We saw blood on the hatch.”

  Rosa rolled up her shirt to reveal a weeping wound in her side. Mira unslung her pack and removed her first aid kit.

  “This will sting… actually it will hurt like fuck. Just so you know.”

  Mira cleaned the wound and packed it with SteriGel, finally she taped a field dressing over it. Rosa flinched occasionally but, aside from sucking air between clenched teeth, remained silent.

  “I like you, Mira. You’re honest,” Rosa said once the wound was dressed. “It hurt like fuck, just like you promised.”

  “Monica will fix it better than I can. She’s the best. We should leave.”

  “No…” The woman tensed. “It will be dark soon, things happen in the dark.”

  “It’s okay…”

  “There are ghosts. The ghosts come out at night,” Rosa whispered. “I hid from them…”

  “Trust us Rosa. We’ll get you out of here,” Mira said.

  Uncertainty lingered in the woman’s face.

  “We have Sergeant Barnes,” Tish said as she helped Rosa to her feet and continued to support her. “You won’t ever meet a bigger man.”

  Rosa leant on Tish for a second and straightened.

  “When can I go home?” she asked.

  “We have some business to take care of here,” Mira said. “As soon as we are done, we’ll leave. Where is home, Rosa?”

  “Viola Prime.”

  Mira exchanged a look with Tish; neither said a word.

  Mira unslung her laser rifle as they re-entered the artificial daylight of the Mothernode. Rosa was right, the light was changing, darkening and taking on an orange hue.

  “How long is the day here?” Mira asked.

  “About 8 hours,” Rosa replied, her eyes darting around the towers, her movements taut with fear.

  “Hi,”Alex said.

  Mira let Tish handle the introductions as they walked back toward the rest of the crew. Barnes and Zenia were waiting at the end of the boulevard. Rosa was holding back.

  “It’s okay, Rosa. These people are my friends. The big soldier is Rich; he will take you back to the ship.”

  “What is she?” Rosa pointed.

  “That’s Zenia… we don’t quite know what she is right now. There is no need to be afraid; she’s odd but friendly,” Mira explained.

  “Where is she from? Is she one of them? The people who made this place?”

  “It’s complicated… I’ll tell you about when we are on the way home.”

  Mira took Barnes to one side.

  “Rich, I need you to haul your arse back to the ship and take Rosa with you. She is frightened; we had to coax her into daylight. She’s from Viola Prime. I want you to fire off a message to Miz with her details and find a match with anyone who got off the planet. It’s a long shot but we have to try. I don’t want to tell her about her home until we have information about her family.”

  Barnes tried to protest.

  “Rich, we can handle this. Rosa is fragile; she needs you more than we do, just like I always did.” She omitted Rosa’s mention of ghosts. “When she is settled come back out. Comms work this side of the barrier so you should be able to find us.”

  Barnes looked far from convinced. Like all good soldiers he knew how to follow orders even if he thought they were bullshit.

  He walked to Rosa and spoke in a soft voice to her. He introduced her to his rifle Babs and motioned for her to follow. As they left Rosa looked over her shoulder.

  “Be careful,” she said. “Thank you for coming so many light-years for me.”

  Mira waited until they were out of earshot and turned to Zenia.

  “Z, she said there were ghosts. What we are dealing with?”

  Z glanced at the towers a blank look on her face. “She can only mean the Servitors.”

  “Do you think Rosa saw them and assumed hostility?” Alex said.

  “No, Alex, something terrified her.” Mira looked into Zenia’s black eyes, seeking truth. “Could they be under the control of the Blackened?”

  Zenia shook her head with a certainty that her inkwell eyes did not bear out. “The Mothernode cannot be corrupted; the Servitors serve. It is their definition. I can connect to the system if you wish. I will verify their status. I will need to find a suitable facility…”

  Mira pointed in the direction of the gold tower, now little more than a shadow in the darkening sky.

  “That one?” she said.

  “Yes.”

  They walked in silence. The shadows around the towers had deepened. Mira blinked in the semi darkness; it reminded her of nightfall back home, sudden and all consuming. Within minutes the only illumination came from their shoulder lamps.

  “Mira,” Alex said. “I have a bad feeling about this. It’s too dark to continue in safety.”

  Mira killed her light. The city was pitch black.

  “Rosa said the cycle is eight hours. We camp down, get some food and rest up. We’ll take shifts on guard.”

  “Should we get into a building?” Tish asked.

  “I would rather not interfere with anything. Alex, have the Servitors moved?”

  “Negative, they dispersed. The drone is tracking two or three in this area but they are ignoring us.”

  Mira shivered. There was a chill in the air. She opened her pack, pulled out a thermal pad and activated the heater.

  She watched while the others unpacked. Their shapes lit by the glow of their shoulder lights.

  �
�This place is older than our civilisation,” Alex said. “It’s a staggering thought.”

  Mira understood. She realised they were standing somewhere no human had ever been before.

  “The Pharn were capable of space travel before humans ever existed Alex… It’s a little humbling,” Mira replied. It occurred to her that the gap between human and Pharn knowledge was not as great as she expected.

  We’re not so far behind… can it be that societies mature and stagnate… or collapse under their own weight?

  She thought of the Great Filter, the theory stating extinction was the rule, survival the exception. She remembered the conversation with Jon Flynt on Tarantella: the post physical society of the Pharn had a resilience. The Blackened could wipe all traces of humanity from the galaxy and there was little she or anyone else could do to stop them. The Pharn existed as energy, which could neither be created nor destroyed.

  That is why they need the nodes… they need to sustain themselves. That’s why places like this are important.

  “Spence told me another staggering fact,” Alex said, rousing Mira from an increasing morose chain of thought.

  “Am I going to like this, Alex?” Mira asked.

  “Probably not… but I’ll tell you anyway. If you think about it, every hand you have ever shaken has held a dick.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good point,” Tish replied, laughing as she did so.

  “Except yours, Thorny. Like all rules there are exceptions,” Alex added.

  “Yeah, Alex, even mine. You can’t be as fucked up as me without the occasional mistake,” Mira replied. She was grateful Alex had lightened the mood.

  “I’ll take guard duty. The rest of you eat and sleep. Alex, you get the last two hours; payback for your dick fact.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” She could hear the smile in his voice.

  She sat with her weapon unslung. Tish rested against her; soon Mira was the only one awake. Zenia had been first to sleep, Alex last. Mira glanced at Tish and brushed her hair from her face.

  Mira commenced her vigil, the air was cool and stirred by a faint breeze.

  The ship had been so loud with the crew onboard. Sitting, staring into the dark, she realised how much she had missed the quiet alone times; only this time there was no inner voice goading and undermining her.