The Numinous

by Michie, Tristan

  “I need to see out, all I've seen is metal corridors and machines.” He said to himself.

  He wondered over to the Captains chair and examined the console. There were buttons and controls for nearly everything, but it was the blast screen control he was looking for; which he eventually found and pressed. The light on the Bridge was much the same as the rest of the ship, slightly brighter perhaps but still the same red glare of the emergency lighting. The blast screen slowly opened, it creaked and groaned as it went; as though they hadn't been used in a very long time. James stood watching, waiting for his first glimpse of the outside and then it came; they appeared to be in a high orbit around a black planet. There was no detail down there, the planet looked as though it had been battered by massive temperatures and terrible weather conditions for thousands of years.

  Christ I hope the heat shields are up for the job, we're too close to that Sun!

  From their position, it looked as though they were heading away from the sun; it will be dark soon, but for now James was happy there was some sunlight on the ship – even if it was from an alien sun.

  James walked around the Bridge trying to familiarise himself with some of the different crew stations.

  I know this place, it all seems too familiar.

  He had worked out which was the navigation point so sat down at the chair and looked at the screen. There was a system map currently displayed on-screen.

  Current system : Alpha Centauri B

  Nearest planetoid : Alpha Centauri Bb

  Distance to planet: 650.000 km

  James looked at the information on the screen, feeling a sense of relief that they had actually made it to their destination. Looking at the orbital map he concluded that they were actually headed towards the dark side of the planet, in roughly three hours. He needed to get Louise and Markus up here to see this, a bit of natural light would probably lift their spirits somewhat; especially Markus.

  OK first things first, we managed to reach our destination. Now I need to find out what's been going on around here and set a course home.

  He returned his attention back to the screen in front of him and looked through the available options, he selected 'New Course'.

  “I have no idea what I'm doing.” He muttered to himself.

  The screen in front of him may as well been in a different language, to all tense and purpose, it was. Star charts, graphs, orbital and system diagrams, everything that appeared on the screen went way above his understanding. James had no idea how to even begin setting a course anywhere, never mind a course home. He was completely lost, he could feel his despair grow.

  Why did I think I had a chance of doing this? We are stuck out here, we'll never get home.

  James slammed his fist down, letting frustration get the better of him. He felt drained, one bad thing after another. The woman, or whatever it was down in Engineering, the incomprehensible Navigation computers; it seemed nothing was going to go their way. And the crew, the one thing they all keep coming back to; where are they? Where did they go?

  I just hope Markus and Louise have more luck than me, maybe one of them can work out this damn computer.

  James stood up, his body was still recovering from his incident down in Engineering. Real or not, it wasn't something he was going to get over any time soon. He felt paranoid and anxious; every sound, even the barely audible sounds from some of the computers here on the Bridge set his heart racing.

  He walked back towards the Captains seat and sat himself down, for a moment sat in the seat and looking through the window at the planet below filled him with awe. For that brief few minutes he was able to put recent happenings behind him and just enjoy the view. He didn't know if he'd ever see Earth again but the view in front of him was so beautiful; nothing else right now seemed to matter.

  He looked at the monitor on his right, it was the Systems Log. He scanned through the most recent entries, most of which were recorded before the Light Drive activation. These didn't offer anything meaningful, mainly centred around system maintenance and upkeep. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He continued scanning through the logs until he came across a strange entry recorded only minutes into 'Speed of light' travel; it simply stated:

  Anomaly detected........ Cause unknown.........

  Danger to crew and/or ship: Unknown

  Effect on Light Drive: None or Unknown.....

  OK, so something happened soon after the Light Drive was put into action.

  He continued scanning through the entries, the next one he saw concerned power levels regarding the Light Drive.

  Light Drive power critically low....

  Re-routing power from main reactor....

  OK, this would explain the power levels we currently have then. It looks as though the Light Drive needed to take more than originally thought.

  He scanned through the rest of the entries, only one more showed up that drew James' gaze.

  System time reset.

  Reason for reset: Unknown

  Effect on systems: None

  This doesn't really help anything, there was some kind of anomaly and the system times reset themselves, both are probably related but doesn't in any way explain what happened here. As for the power issues, the Light Drive ran short and took too much from the reactor.

  “So where did the crew go?” He suddenly said out loud.

  James looked at the other monitors surrounding the Captains seat, most of them were system information, nothing overly detailed but giving basic read outs at a glance. One of them however displayed the words 'The Numinous crew reports'.

  “The Numinous? The ships name, of course!” He exclaimed.

  His happiness of discovering the ships name was short lived however, all access to the crew reports were only available with an authorisation password.

  “OK.” He Said to himself as he retrieved his password from his pocket. “Lets just hope this works.”

  He slowly in putted his Authorisation password into the computer, after a moment a new screen appeared.

  Welcome back James Horton.

  You are logged onto crew reports.....

  James breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Finally, something going right.” He said to himself.

  James sat just staring at the screen, not knowing where to start; so many questions had the potential to be answered here. He began by performing a search of his own name, after a brief pause his record appeared on screen. According to the computer James Horton was forty one years old, single, born in the USA and was the Engineering Officer on board the Numinous.

  An officer? That will be why the Bridge as well as Engineering seemed so familiar!

  There was further information related to James, mainly involving his career to date, achievements within his role and the like. Next he ran a search on Markus, again as before, a slight pause while the computer brought up the required record. Markus Clyde was Twenty nine, Married with family, born in the UK and his role on board the Numinous was a member of the Science Division.

  The Science Division? Yet he can't remember anything before Stasis?

  Louise was next, he ran another search on her name. A few seconds later her record appeared on screen, she was Thirty Two, Single, born in the UK and her responsibilities were with Stasis.

  That explains how she knew so much about the side effects, she thought she may had been something to do with that area.

  James considered doing a search on Edward, but not knowing a surname or which part of the ship he worked on would make it difficult. He typed 'Edward' into the search,

  Search results: Edward

  No records found.

  “What? Nothing?” He said to the screen.

  There was an option on the screen to show all crew members which he selected, three names appeared on screen; Markus Clyde, James Horton and Louise Sims. No other crew members, according to the computer were ever on-board the Numinous.

  There must be a mistake, an error or some
thing.

  He tried the same option again but as before the same three crew members names appeared on the screen.

  “This can't be right.” He told the computer.

  Where's Edward, Louise was with him, why isn't he showing? What's happened, I don't understand.

  James slumped back into the Captains chair looking out of the window, it was clear now; they'd probably never find out for sure where all the crew went. All he really had to go on was the anomaly they had passed through, something must of happened around that time. There was no other explanation as far as he was concerned.

  It's as though they were never here.

  He got up from the chair and made his way across the Bridge to the ComSpeak unit on the wall, he cleared his throat, held down the button and spoke.

  “This is James Horton of the Numinous. Markus, Louise and anyone else that's out there and can hear this; please make your way to the Bridge. There is something here you need to see, please head back as soon as you can.”

  James sat back down in the Captains chair and stared back out of the window, he could feel the pain in his head starting to return. Closing his eyes, he became lost in his thoughts. Replaying in his head all the significant discoveries found so far. The three of them had woken aboard this ship, no other crew members appeared to be present; with the exception of Edward, who only Louise had seen and spoken to.

  Who doesn't appear anywhere on the crew roster.

  Power was very low, almost at critical levels, this was due to the Light Drive needing more power for the journey than expected. During the early minutes of speed of light travel they passed through an anomaly, which later on may or may not have effected the system time. It's a possibility they were in Stasis for an extended amount of time, although there's no way to confirm this right now. It would seem their destination was reached and the Numinous is currently in high orbit around Alpha Centauri Bb.

  May as well face facts, we'll never get home. Whatever has happened here is going to happen to us sooner or later.

  Going over the details in his head was really making his head hurt, he rubbed his forehead; a sharp and unexpected pain shot across his head. He looked at his hand, it was bloodied; he could feel the warm blood starting to run down his face.

  “Woah! What the hell is happening?” He said, utter shock in his voice.

  He wiped his forehead with his sleeve, it came away covered in blood. The pain in his head was becoming unbearable, agonising; clutching his head he screamed, almost choking on his own blood as his scream tore open the inside of his throat. He fell from the Captains chair, landing hard on the floor; blood slowly spreading out around him. His back had split open when he had fallen, the pain leaving him paralysed. He lay there on the floor looking towards the windows, he could only make out part of the planet outside.

  Is this what happened to the rest of the crew? Their bodies just started to break?

  The last thing James Horton saw while lying on the cold floor of the Bridge was Nettie; his cat was here with him, sat on the Captains chair looking down at him. James tried to reach his hand out but he couldn't find the strength to lift his arm. Blood spread out around him, his vision was starting to fade but the pain was becoming more tolerable. He knew he was dying, he knew this was his last few moments; he felt at ease looking into his cats eyes as the darkness began to envelope him. Seconds before he passed, the pool of blood surrounding him started to disappear, not dry up but actually disappear. And then he was gone. Ten minutes later there was no evidence James Horton had ever existed.

  11

  Slowly he made his way down the stairs, his footsteps loud on the metal beneath his feet. He shone the flash light, shadows fled it's beam; dispersing as they went, only to reform behind him. Watching, in silence, his every move and listening intently to his every breath. Markus was scared, something had gone very wrong with this place. Here they were, light years from home; deep in the darkness of the void. He could feel the horrors that dwelt in this cold and lonely place pressing against the hull of the ship. He could almost feel it creaking under the pressure from whatever other worldly abomination pushed against it.

  Markus passed through three more decks before he reached the cargo hold, each deck he passed through seemed more darker and desolate than the last. Whatever James had done to strengthen the lights on the upper decks really wasn't working down here; he was entering the abyss, a black and terrifying world in the bowels of the ship.

  And for what? To see if the escape pods are gone, what's the bloody point?

  When he finally reached the cargo hold the lights had more or less failed, without the flash light he would have had to have gone back.

  He found himself in a large hallway, not unlike similar areas in other parts of the ship. In all directions long dark passage ways led of into the darkness. Shining the torch on the walls he found a deck map, he slowly walked over; he was finding the dark disorientating. According to the map the escape pods were down the passage to his left, going right would take him to the main stores and forward lead to the science stores. He looked up the corridor to his left, shining his flash light ahead of him and began slowly making his way. About halfway down something caught his eye, on the wall about shoulder height there was a large gouge in the wall, not unlike the one he had seen in his Stasis lounge. But this one was much longer and definitely deeper, it stretched nearly the rest of the length of the corridor; about ten metres in total.

  What the hell caused that? Is the ship slowly cracking?

  Markus continued walking until he reached a door, a notice above read 'EMERGENCY SHUTTLES – NO ADMITTANCE UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY' he opened the door. The room beyond was vast, at least thirty metres wide; it's length stretched off into the darkness. At regular intervals on either side was a metallic grey round sphere, maybe three metres in diameter; with a large window on one side and groups of several small thrusters placed all around the outside. Two crew members could fit in each pod; there must have been around one hundred and fifty of these things here.

  Nobody left this ship in one of these, they're all accounted for.

  Markus walked the length of the room, just to be sure none of the escape pods were missing; they were all here. He started to make his way back towards the door when he heard something, something over to his left behind one of the pods; it sounded like a child crying. He shone his light over in the general direction but could see nothing out of the ordinary but the strange noise continued.

  What now, I can't handle any more of this shit.

  He wanted to run, run back up to the top decks; at least it was bright up there, like a bright sunny day in comparison. Yet he couldn't, not through fear but something else; maybe there was a frightened child here, scared and lonely. Slowly, he made his way towards the escape pod, keeping the flash light ahead of him. His heart was starting to beat faster, he could feel his breathing increasing and his head was starting to hurt again. He looked around the front of the escape pod but the moment he got close enough the noise stopped, everything was in silence.

  I need to get out of here.

  Markus turned around and started walking back towards the door, as soon as he had gone a few steps he heard it again; in the same place as before, behind the escape pod.

  No, nothing was there. Keep walking.

  He upped his pace, his heart was beating faster and faster, while the crying became louder and louder. He began to run, the beam from his flash light shining wildly as he went; something was there, running with him. He saw it out of the corner of his eye and then it was gone, he stopped dead in his tracks; something was huddled in the door way, just a few foot in front of him.

  No, no, no! Make it stop, please make it stop.

  Slowly he lifted the beam of light to see what was there, his eyes were almost closed; he didn't want to know what it was, yet he couldn't stop himself.

  “Daddy.” It said. “Can we see the dinosaurs now?”

  Markus dropped his flash lig
ht to the floor, the shock of hearing his sons voice was almost too much.

  “Christopher? Christopher is that you?” Markus asked, his voice quiet and trembling.

  “Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs!” It said back to him.

  Why is my son in this dark, horrible place? He shouldn't be here.

  “Dinosaurs, dinosaurs, dinosaurs!” It said, over and over again, each time getting louder and louder.

  Markus reached his trembling hand down and grabbed the flash light, shining the beam at his son. It was Christopher, there was no mistaking it.

  Another voice gently whispered behind him.

  “That's not Christopher, Markus. Christopher is dead now, he died a long, long time ago.”

  It was a female voice, it was Louise' voice; talking from the darkness behind him.

  Markus stood frozen with fear in the blackness, listening to the voices; Louise' voice continued,

  “I know Christopher is dead because I killed him, many years ago. I cut his throat and watched him bleed to death in your wife’s arms. Oh how we smiled.”

  “No, this didn't happen” Markus said, the words barely able to leave his fear stricken throat.

  Something moved rapidly from behind him, Christopher looked up and screamed; his face a picture of utter fear. He turned and fled down the corridor.

  “Wait!” Markus shouted.

  “Let me show you...” Louise' voice said to him.

  Markus ran, all the fear he was gripped in had gone; he needed to save his son.

  Why is this happening, why is my Son here with Louise?

  Christopher was sat on the floor in the hallway at the end of the corridor, Louise was knelt down behind him; her eyes were black and dead, a strange smile on her face. Markus was paralysed, all he could do was watch as Louise took a large knife from the floor and plunged it into Christopher’s throat. Blood sprayed across the room, the scream that should of come from his sons mouth was nothing more than a gurgling.

  “let me show you...” Louise' voice said again.

  She lifted the knife above her head and brought it down hard on Christopher’s back. The blade was so long it went straight through him, Markus could see the blade come through his chest before it was ripped back out and brought down on him again. Louise was in a state of madness, just stabbing and cutting the poor boys lifeless body.