The Numinous

by Michie, Tristan

  “Who was calling? Did I imagine that too?” She muttered to herself, doubt in her voice.

  She crossed the room, pausing at the terminal on the desk.

  “First things first.” She thought to herself, “who the hell am I”?

  She switched on the screen. Slowly an image appeared, it was fuzzy and difficult to make out properly, as though it was suffering from some kind of interference.

  A floor plan of the room was on-screen, her chamber had been reserved for 'Louise Sims'.

  “That’s me” She exclaimed. “I'm Louise! Of course I bloody am! How could I of Forgotten?”

  There was a chair at the terminal so she sat herself down and looked at the screen.

  “Now lets figure out what the hell is going on around here.” She said to the empty room.

  She tried all the options available to her on the screen, none would allow her access without the authorisation password. She even tried the personal logs under her own name, again without the password she was getting nowhere fast.

  “Damnit!” She shouted, louder than she meant.

  What was that?

  Louise spun around in her chair, someone was outside the room in the corridor. She could hear footsteps, footsteps getting closer and closer. She jumped up from the chair and quickly made her way back to her Stasis chamber, dizziness threatening to throw her to the floor. She made it across the room to the chamber, ducking down behind, hoping the gloom would conceal her. A figure appeared in the doorway, shrouded in shadow. Louise could make out it's hands gripping the side of the door, it's head looking from left to right, scanning the room. Her heart was beating faster than she was comfortable with and her head was starting to pound. She couldn't take much more of this, ever since she had awoken she had experienced nothing but fear. And here she was again, hiding behind a Stasis chamber in the dark, barely managing to keep her panic levels in check.

  “Hello?” The voice came from the figure at the door, “is anyone here?” It was a man, his voice sounded weak and hoarse. Louise slowly peered around the side of the Stasis chamber.

  “Hello?” She whispered.

  “Hello, my name is Edward, Edward Burnly. I don't mean you any harm. Please, I just want help.”

  Louise slowly got to her feet, her eyes had adjusted to the dark somewhat but she still couldn't make out the figure properly.

  “Edward Burnly? I know that name........Wait! You were in the Stasis lounge down the hall?”

  “Yes.” Edward replied “Can I sit please? I'm not feeling all that steady.”

  “Just hold on a second, when did you wake up?” She asked, suspicion in her voice.

  Edward was leaning against the door, he looked tired and scared. She wasn't surprised, if Edward had experienced anything like she had since waking he should be scared. She must look the same to him, hiding behind a Stasis chamber in the dark. Her face no doubt looking as scared and tired as his, paranoid and untrusting.

  “I'm not sure,” he said, weariness in his voice. “An hour maybe? Not long, but long enough to realise something has gone quite wrong. Now please Miss, can I sit down?”

  “OK Yeah, go ahead.” Louise replied, gesturing to the chair. “I'm sorry, I haven't been myself since waking up. Like you said, something has gone wrong around here.”

  Edward made his way to the chair and sat himself down, he was clearly suffering from the side effects of hyper-sleep.

  Louise made her way to the desk and perched on the edge. Up close and awake Edward looked a lot older and haggard than he had done in his Stasis Chamber. He must have been in his seventies at least. He had a full head of scruffy grey hair, and his beard – although short, had a similar scruffy look. His face was wrinkled and worn, but there was a twinkle in his eyes, a kindness that Louise could sense. She felt at ease almost straight away in his company, and was grateful she had finally found another soul on-board.

  “I'm sorry if I startled you my dear.” he said, his voice still hoarse and weak.

  “It's OK,” Louise responded “I'm still really twitchy since coming round, the side effects of this hyper-sleep seem pretty nasty”

  “I've noticed.” Said Edward, rubbing his eyes. “Since waking I’ve had a conversation with my dead Wife and heard someone calling my name from inside a locker”

  “Perks of the job I guess.” Smiled Louise. “Sorry, I'm Louise, Louise Sims.”

  “Nice to meet you Louise, to be honest I'm glad I met you when I did. What’s happening around here? I woke up in panic, alone and scared. Joking aside, speaking to my wife terrified me....... it seemed so real, but she wasn't right. There was a darkness, in and around her. I can't put my finger on it.......”

  Edward fell silent, a sadness had fallen over his face. Louise took his hand.

  “It's OK Edward, this stuff happens. Normal side effects of hyper-sleep, I just never realised the hallucinations would be so terrifying............. Earlier I was followed into this room, something was out in the hallway, not long after I found your Stasis Chamber. I don't know what or who it was, but it filled me with such fear, the kind of fear I've never experienced before. I must of passed out.”

  Edward looked up at her,

  “Have you seen anyone else?”

  “Not seen, no.” Louise said. “I did hear someone calling though, or at least I think I did. After I was followed back in here I hid over there” She pointed at the Stasis Chamber. “I heard someone calling for help just before I, well, just before I think I passed out.”

  “Where did it come from?” Asked Edward.

  “To be honest, I'm not really sure.” She replied “It was loud enough to be on this deck, and was definitely male, but other than that....”

  “OK.” said Edward, “We need to establish what’s going on here, have you checked the terminal?”

  “Yes, didn't get very far though. I don't have an authorisation password”

  “Me neither.” He replied.

  Talking to Edward had made Louise feel a lot more at ease, her earlier panic had subsided and her head had stopped pounding, but the ship felt ominous, the red glow of the emergency lighting created an atmosphere she really didn't want to be apart of. Something had gone very wrong with this ship.

  “Alright,” said Edward, “What do you remember before we went into hyper-sleep?”

  Louise sighed, “Nothing. I know I'm a crew member on board this ship, my role? No idea. I also knew about the many side effects of hyper-sleep, so could I be in Medical perhaps? What about you?”

  “I remember less than you, my name, I knew my name soon after waking” he answered “The only thing that keeps going around my head is Alpha Centauri, is that where we were headed perhaps?”

  Hearing those two words, Alpha Centauri, triggered something.

  “Wait!” Louise said suddenly “Alpha Centauri? That IS where we were headed, I remember!”

  “Do you remember why?” Asked Edward.

  “Not yet, but it's a start, it's something. Hopefully other memories will be triggered sooner rather than later.”

  “I wonder if we got there?” Asked Edward, “we should check navigation maps as soon as we can.”

  Edward slowly got to his feet, he noticed the injury on Louise' head as he stood.

  “Is that OK?” He asked, his voice concerned.

  “Yeah, it's OK. I smacked it pretty hard earlier. I was about to try and find the medical deck to get myself patched up when you appeared.”

  “OK, so we find Medical then look for others. If that really was a voice you heard earlier then maybe we can find them, and hopefully get some answers.”

  “Are you feeling any better?” Louise asked.

  “Not really, I feel exhausted to be honest. Mentally and physically.”

  “It will pass.” Louise assured him “The physical symptoms usually pass quite quick, just watch what you are doing, take it easy. Ideally, an hour or two in medical would be best advised. I'm not sure if that’s a real option at this
point though.

  “I'll be OK, lets just get to Medical and take it from there shall we?” Edward said.

  “OK, Sounds good” Said Louise.

  “Just one question though Louise, you said you knew about hyper-sleep side effects, how long does memory loss and hallucinations normally last?”

  “Depends” She said “Usually a couple hours at the most, but that’s with a fifty year sleep cycle simulation. Can't be any more exact than that really.”

  “How long have you been awake for?”

  Louise looked at Edward, “Longer than a couple hours.”

  5

  “GET OUT! GET AWAY FROM ME!” Markus shouted, he had leapt from his Stasis chamber and was backing off into the corner of the room, “LEAVE ME ALONE!”

  James, realising he was still holding the metal bar threw it to the floor. Again he raised both hands in the air, standing still.

  “I'm not going to hurt you,” said James in the most reassuring voice he could muster. “I heard you calling for help, I thought you were in trouble.”

  Markus had backed up right against the wall, the steel cool on his back. He stood there trembling as he watched James' every move.

  “I AM in trouble.” Markus barely managed to form the words, his voice noticeable trembling. “Look around you, where the hell is everyone? We're ALL in trouble!”

  “Woah, slow down....” James started.

  “GET BACK!” Markus shouted.

  “OK, OK. Look, my name is James. My memory is a bit fuzzy right now, but I think I was a part of Engineering. I'm trying to find out what happened here.”

  “Where was your Stasis chamber?” Markus asked, he was beginning to calm down a little. James hammering on the door had really scared him.

  “I'm on the next deck down, I was making my way up to engineering, the next deck up.”

  Markus, although managing to keep reasonably calm now, continued to watch everything James was doing.

  “Why were you going up there for?” Asked Markus, the suspicion in his voice plain to hear.

  “Like I said,” began James “I'm a part of engineering, my memories are too vivid to be otherwise. I don't know how long we were all asleep, but most of my memory has been affected quite severely. I need to see if I can fix up the power a little.

  “Why?” Said Markus “What’s wrong with it?”

  “I don't know, but as you can see, it's become an issue. As I’m sure you've noticed, the emergency power is on.”

  “And what does that mean?” Asked Markus.

  “Basically, either something has malfunctioned somewhere, which is potentially fixable or the reactor is on its last legs. Which is worse case scenario, and not at all good for us.”

  Markus moved away from the wall, slowly approaching James.

  “What happens if it's the reactor?” He asked.

  “Well.” Said James, “It means that every system on-board this ship will start shutting down one by one, eventually life support will also shut down. I need to get up to engineering and see what is going on. Hopefully finding some more crew members up there at the same time.”

  Almost on queue the dim red lighting flickered and went off, the room was plunged into absolute darkness momentarily. James felt a sudden sharp pain shoot through his skull, he held his head as the pain shot through it and down his neck. Across the room Markus was holding his head in his hands, moaning in pain.

  “Make it stop!” He cried out.

  The dim red glow of the emergency lighting flickered back into life again, flooding the room in its eerie red shadow. It seemed darker than before it went off, it felt oppressive and depressing.

  “Are you OK?” The concern in James' voice was evident, his own pain had started to recede.

  “No” Markus mumbled, “My head hasn't been right since I woke up. The headaches..... just then....that was almost unbearable.”

  James considered telling Markus of his own sudden head pain, but given his emotional state he deemed it wise to maybe keep it quiet.

  The room fell into silence with both men lost in their own thoughts. It was James that finally broke that silence.

  “Look, as it stands we seem to be the only people in the immediate vicinity right now. I have no idea what I’m gonna find when I get up to engineering, we need to stick together. Like I said, I’m James, James Horton. I'm sorry we met the way we did, it wasn't my intention to scare you like that. We need to figure out what’s going on and where the rest of the crew are.”

  Markus looked at him through the gloom, they were only ten foot away from each other, yet in the darkness James was nothing more than a shadow.

  “Yeah you're right.” Said Markus “I'm Markus Clyde, I’m sorry, this whole thing is just freaking me out. I woke up in my Stasis chamber after dreaming about my family, I was panicking. I couldn't breathe, I didn't know where I was or even who I was.”

  Markus went silent, his family, they were his life. He had dreamt about saying goodbye to his son. A ten year trip? Why had he agreed to do that? What was so important he would leave his family for a ten year trip in space? A sudden but deep sadness washed over him, how long had they been out here already? How old was his son now? He longed for the warm embrace of his wife.

  “We were coming out here for ten years” Markus suddenly declared.

  “You just remembered that?” James asked.

  “It was in my dream, I couldn't tell my Son how long I was going to be away for. What the fuck were we going to be doing out here all that time?”

  “I don't know,” said James “but now you mention it, ten years sounds right. I know I have an authorisation pass, I just can't remember it. Another place I need to find is my own quarters, I’m bound to have made a note of it. With that code we can access the terminals and find out why we are here and what the hell happened!”

  “So, Engineering and then find your living quarters” responded Markus. “Any idea where they are?”

  James looked at the floor in silence, trying his best to drag some memories from the shadows in his mind. His head started to stab with pain, the harder he thought the worse the pain became. It was almost as though his subconscious was deliberately trying to stop him remembering. He lifted his hand to his forehead and winced.

  “James? You OK?” Asked Markus.

  James rubbed his head before looking back up.

  “Yeah, I'm OK. I just can't remember, my mind just clouds over.”

  The pain started to subside, he was starting to feel drained.

  “OK.” James declared. “What equipment do we have? I have this flash light, it's not brilliant but it works.”

  Markus grabbed his rucksack.

  “I found this in the locker room, there's a couple bars of Neutrichoc. Got a flash light too, it's a bit weak though. I reckon we should grab some of the water and drinks from the other Stasis chambers.”

  “Good idea.” Said James as he opened the cabinet of the nearest chamber and removed the drinks.

  Markus joined him, placing the bottles in the rucksack.

  “Another couple should be enough, then we should head out.” Said Markus.

  After the bag was filled with water and nutrients drinks James walked over to the terminal and looked at the screen. With his fingers on the keyboard he waited to see if anything would come back, even just a few characters from his password, but there was nothing. He stared blankly until his eyes started to lose focus, and still nothing emerged. Turning away, feeling frustrated he noticed the large scratch mark next to the door.

  “What the hell is that?” Worry in his voice.

  Markus walked to the door, “I dunno, I noticed it earlier.” he said.

  “These walls are re-enforced, that wouldn't have been done easily.” James remarked as he bent down to examine the scratch more closely. He ran his finger up and down the six inch gouge, the edges were straight but sharp to the touch and it was at least half an inch deep.

  “Maybe someone was trying
to get out of here.” Suggested Markus.

  “They were clearly pretty desperate then.” Replied James. “Like I said, the walls are re-enforced, you can tell that just by looking at them. I don't think you could make a scratch like that with anything found lying around here.”

  Markus felt a shiver down his spine, what could of damaged the wall like that? Dark images filled his mind, insane crew members savagely clawing at the walls and themselves. Desperate to leave this room, bodies both living and dead piled against the door in one bloodied orgy of despair.

  He shook the thoughts away only to be replaced by pain, pain deep in his head, slowly spreading its dark tendrils to the darkest corners of his mind.

  “I need to get out of this room.” Markus finally said.

  They both walked out of the door into the corridor, their flash lights lighting the way ahead.

  “At the end of this corridor is a stairwell and lift.” Explained James, “engineering is on the next floor, follow me.”

  Both men slowly made their way down the corridor, the flash lights cutting through the shadows as they went until eventually they reached the stairwell. On the wall was a map of the deck, this was one of the Hyper-sleep decks. Five separate hypersleep lounges and their connecting store rooms as well as a general store down the furthest end of the deck. As James had said, engineering was the next deck up. Engineering and transmissions. Markus' mind briefly woke up long enough to let a memory through.

  “Transmissions?” Markus said, his voice sounded confused.

  “What?” Replied James as he placed his foot on the first step.

  “Transmissions. That's why we came out here, it's just come back to me. We had intercepted signals far beyond our solar system!”

  James stood motionless on the stairs, his mind desperately looking for memories to pluck out of the darkness. And then it came to him, two words rushed out of the dark and exploded in his head.

  Alpha Centauri.

  His heart leapt. Of course, he thought!

  “Wait a minute.” James said excitedly. “Alpha Centauri, the signals came from Alpha Centauri! We must of came out here to see what they were.”

  “It must be.” Replied Markus. “So are we there now? In another solar system light years from home?”