Ghost Ship

by Marquis, Michelle

  Sonya was getting dressed in a corner of the room looking as self-conscious as a high-school girl in her prom dress. “I don’t find either of you funny,” she mumbled. Dirk was fairly sure she hadn’t meant to be heard by anyone. It was a private comment that didn’t require a response.

  “If there are aliens on board,” Dirk asked her, “what do you think they’ll look like?”

  Sonya finished dressing but left the long middle zipper down for ventilation. Her small breasts appeared bigger in the V of her space suit, and Dirk wondered if they would feel as good as they looked. She removed her flash hood, combed her fingers through her short dark hair, and then put it on again. It was a hint at vanity Dirk found strangely sexy. “I doubt we’ll find aliens alive or dead on board.”

  Dirk had to call her on this one. Just because you didn’t want there to be alien bodies didn’t mean there weren’t going to be any. “Why?”

  “Why don’t I think there’ll be aliens on the ship?” she asked for clarification.

  “Yeah,” Dirk said.

  She gave a tiny shrug. “Because the ship appears to be very old. It’s probably been floating around in space for hundreds of years. Even running on minimal power and with all their crew in cryo-sleep, nothing could survive that long.”

  “You’re assuming a lot.”

  “I’m guessing,” she replied. “Just like you are.”

  “I haven’t guessed anything yet,” Dirk said. “There are all kinds of weird creatures that live in extreme temperatures on Earth. Some animals survive just fine in below freezing temperatures buried under the Arctic ice. Most have done so for millions of years.”

  “Okay,” Sonya said with a note of surrender in her voice. “Let me rephrase what I said. I hope we don’t find any aliens on board. Satisfied?”

  Dirk grinned. “Yes, I think I am.”

  They each grabbed a helmet and headed into a large bay which housed the shuttle. There were two shuttles, but one hadn’t been working since Dirk boarded this ship two years ago. Worse still, no one seemed to be in any hurry to fix it. Correction. Logan hadn’t been in any hurry. That worthless Captain of theirs was so worried about his next drink, he rarely took anything seriously. Logan’s attitude worried Dirk more than he liked to admit. It was Dirk’s experience that when the man in charge was the weakest link, things usually went very wrong. He mentally shrugged his shoulders. There wasn’t much he could do about Logan right at the moment.

  Sonya reached the shuttle first and ducked inside to make sure all the systems were online and ready to go. As Dirk waited outside with the others, James turned to him and gave him a private smile. “If there are aliens on board, and we get them back to Earth, we’re all going to be rich like kings.”

  Dirk nodded, letting his gaze roam the outside of the shuttle looking for safety concerns. “Unless they kill and eat us when we arrive on board. Then we’ll just be dead.”

  James scowled. “You always this much fun, Dirk?”

  “Usually.”

  Sonya came out of the shuttle, her brow wrinkled with worry. “Everything’s a go. If any of you want to back out, now’s the time.”

  No one moved, but Dirk wondered how many had their courage glued on with a generous helping of greed. It didn’t make him confident in their mission.

  “Okay then, let’s saddle up and go,” Sonya said. She disappeared back into the shuttle. The three volunteers followed her inside. Dirk made sure he was last just in case he decided to ditch this mission at the last minute.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t back out. He didn’t want to look like a coward in front of Sonya. So he just filed in with the rest of them.

  Chapter Seven

  It was a sobering feeling being confined in the belly of a small shuttle and thrust out into space. There was no safety net, no emergency vehicles on standby, nothing between the travelers and complete disaster. Sonya felt her anxiety rise and, as discretely as possible, checked her anti-seizure medication delivering a continuous feed of medication. Her supply was fine, more than enough for a short trip like this. Her medication continued to deliver a continuous drip into her bloodstream by way of the needle secured to a vein in her thigh. It wasn’t the most ideal setup, but Sonya had been using it off and on ever since she came on board. The setup was perfect for hiding her epilepsy meds, something that had proven more of a challenge than she had thought.

  If Logan had known, he would have booted her off the cargo vessel for sure, but, lucky for her, there wasn’t too much that concerned their captain except his next drink.

  But even with the best medication, anything could happen. Sonya remembered having the last seizure two years ago in her cabin. Thank goodness she had been alone. The only reason she’d known about it at all was the familiar blackout and waking up on the floor. After that, she’d been much more careful about monitoring her meds.

  As she watched the alien ship come into view, a million thoughts bombarded her mind. What if they encountered an aggressive new race and were ill-equipped handle them? What if there were dead bodies all over the place? What if something on board triggered another seizure? Then she stopped herself before her mind took off into a full-blown panic. Everything was fine. Just keep breathing.

  Dirk came over and took the copilot seat next to her. The seat had been vacant when they’d left the USS Mastodon, and Sonya had been hoping it would stay that way. But no, there would be no peace on this trip, not while Dirk Fowler was on board. Sonya liked Dirk, well sometimes anyway, but she was careful to keep him at an emotional distance. She didn’t need him getting the wrong idea about them, and she was sure his interest in her was purely sexual. Sonya didn’t want the complications of a relationship with anyone, let alone the ship’s biggest smart-ass.

  “Nervous?” he asked, not taking his eyes off the large image of the ghost ship on the screen.

  “I wasn’t before we left, but I am now,” she admitted. “How about you?”

  “I’m shitting myself.”

  Sonya couldn’t help it. She smiled. “We’ve been running a multi-lingual greeting ever since we left, and still no response. That tells me whoever crewed this ship is either dead or in artificial sleep. That’s got to be good news.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “No surprises.”

  Dirk slumped in his seat. “I don’t believe in a world without surprises.”

  “I gave everyone a chance to back out.”

  “I couldn’t back out,” Dirk said with a crooked grin. “What would the other guys think?”

  Sonya leaned forward and adjusted the camera’s magnification. “They’d think you were the smart one.” The ghost ship’s hull filled the screen showing all the signs of its long voyage. The dark red surface was pockmarked in places from space dust and debris, and the port side had a dent where it looked like a meteor had bounced off the surface. Sonya zeroed in on some of the large bay windows situated along the side of the vessel. The windows were tinted, but still she could make out what looked like intact passageways. There was no sign of life.

  She piloted the shuttle around the ship looking for a way in. Then, just as they passed the rear thrusters, Sonya spotted an open docking bay with a few crude looking shuttles secured to the deck.

  “That looks like our way in,” she said. Slowing the shuttle to one forth, Sonya eased her way inside the docking bay and set the vessel down as close to what looked like an entrance as possible. There was a loud thump as the shuttle secured itself to the ground. “Well,” Sonya said with an exaggerated sigh, “here we are.”

  Everyone stared at her and didn’t say a word.

  Chapter Eight

  They came through the docking bay and carefully opened one of the exterior doors. The going was slow, thanks mostly to the heavy magnetic boots that secured them to the metal floor. Once inside the ghost ship, they were surprised to find there was some power after all. Each passageway they entered lit up with red emergency lights. Not enough illuminati
on to read by but plenty to navigate their way.

  Dirk brought up the rear of the party so he could take his time looking around, not that there was much to see. He was also the one in charge of placing signs to mark their route. Dirk did this by drawing large arrows on the walls with illuminating chalk, so they could make their way back easily. Most of the hatches they passed were closed, which was odd since hatches on the Mastodon were usually kept open unless there was the potential for a hull breach. Having everything closed off added to the mystery of the ship because they couldn’t see into other spaces. Once or twice Dirk was tempted to open one, but they were moving so fast, he didn’t want to risk being left behind. He also didn’t want to do anything that might incur Sonya’s wrath.

  The first living space they came to was an octagonal room with three small glass equipment rooms inside and a curved black screen mounted on the wall that was visible from all angles. Dirk immediately pegged it as the navigation center.

  “NavCenter?” James said into Dirk’s earpiece.

  “That’d be my guess,” Dirk replied, wondering if Sonya was going to disagree just to be contrary. A few moments passed, and she didn’t say a word. “You okay, Chief?” Dirk said.

  Instead of the sarcastic remark he was expecting, she replied, “Yeah, I’m fine—just a little overwhelmed. This is really weird. Who would desert a perfectly good ship? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Sonya was right to be spooked. The ship didn’t just look well-maintained. It looked damn near new. Every polished surface gleamed. Even some of the equipment running on auxiliary power looked to be in perfect working order.

  “Well, now hold on there, Chief,” James said. “We don’t know they actually left. The crew could be in cryo-sleep somewhere.”

  “Then why leave half-eaten food on the consoles?” Sonya asked. She pointed to one of the equipment rooms where, sure enough, a small plate with a piece of half-eaten purple fruit sat. Dirk had to admit, that gave him the creeps. On a ship this clean, leaving dirty dishes around didn’t make any sense. It was almost like everyone had just vanished right where they were standing.

  “Maybe we’ll find some answers on the bridge,” Dirk said.

  Finding the bridge was a guessing game, but not as hard as it might seem to someone unaccustomed to interstellar ships. The wider and better-lit passageways were the ones most likely to take you someplace important on any ship, and this one was no different. Sonya led them to a circular passage that could easily have accommodated them all standing side by side. But even with the extra room, they remained in single file. It was easier to keep an eye on each other that way.

  The second Sonya’s foot hit the first metal grating, all the lights in the large passageway came on. Somewhere nearby, a loud whirling sound indicated something in the area was powering up. Whether that was good or bad still remained to be seen. Sonya paused and then signaled them to continue on.

  Halfway down the passage a circular door whooshed open revealing what looked like a medical facility beyond. They all stopped and stared inside. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see anything from here. They’d have to go in.

  “Should we check it out?” James asked. He shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other.

  “It could answer a lot of questions about what happened,” Sonya said. “Let’s go.”

  Inside the room were beds with monitoring equipment built right into them. Even to those unfamiliar with the ship, it was clear this must be the clinic. Toward the rear of the room there were several larger, elevated beds with more elaborate monitoring consoles mounted on the side. Behind the beds was another large circular door with some red symbols printed across the surface. Off to the right were comfortable-looking chairs like what you might find in any waiting room. To the right next to the chairs was a large bay window looking out over the ship’s starboard engines. Locked glass cases of medication lined the walls.

  Dirk went over to the rear door and stared at the red lettering. Sonya came up next to him. “Quarantine?” he ventured.

  Sonya’s transmission crackled as she let out a big sigh. She looked the door up and down. “Either that or maybe a surgery room.” Taking a step back, she scanned either side of the door and found a green button and just below it, a red one. “Should we see what these do?”

  James and Floyd came up to join them. “We came here to explore,” James said. “Hit it.”

  Sonya pushed the green button, and the heavy metal doors slid open to reveal a dimly lit chamber inside. Just as she had guessed, a central surgical table sat in the middle, but there was also something else, something quite unexpected.

  There were some bones on the floor in the corner.

  The bones looked human, but as they drew closer, they noticed that the skull looked too long and narrow. Dirk crouched down by the remains. “Well, looks like we found a real, live alien.”

  “Not alive, but definitely alien. Pretty damned exciting,” Whittmeyer replied.

  “Yes, exciting. But what killed him, and where are the others?” Sonya asked.

  “Now that,” James said joining Dirk on the floor to look at the skeleton, “is the million-dollar question.”

  Floyd looked at Sonya as if she held the answer to all of this. “Are we rich now?”

  “Oh yeah,” James said beaming up at Floyd and Sonya. “We’re filthy rich.”

  “You hear that, Sonya?” Floyd asked.

  “Oh, I heard him,” she said in that cold, deadpan voice. “I’m just a little worried about why this thing is dead.”

  Dirk stood up sweating in spite of the ventilation in his suit. “Me, too. The Chief’s right. We should be worried about what killed this thing. So, everybody keep their eyes open. Don’t wander off alone.”

  Chapter Nine

  “We found an alien body,” Sonya reported back to Logan. She waited a full minute as her transmitter crackled with static. Logan must have been at a loss for words because her statement was met with silence. She waited. When Logan keyed his transmitter again she could hear excited chattering on the bridge behind him.

  “Are you sure it’s not human?” Logan asked.

  “No, definitely not human.”

  “Can you be a little more specific?” Logan shouted into the transmitter.

  Sonya paused and let him stew for a moment to communicate her displeasure. She hated it when he doubted her. Sonya returned to the bones. “It looks like a human skeleton, but there are differences. The one main thing that looks really different is the thick, bony vertebrae along the neck and the skull. The skull is about the size of a human, but the face is elongated and there’s a thin, bony crest along the skull cap.”

  “Are there any more? Is there just the one?” Logan said. His voice had taken on a school-boy excitement. He sounded like a kid asking his parents what rides will be at the county fair.

  “We don’t know yet. We’re still searching the ship. We’ll let you know if we find anything else.”

  “I want you to bring the remains back with you. You got that, Chief?” Logan said.

  “Yeah, I copy that. Chief Sonya Miller out.” Sonya disconnected the transmission before Logan could pelt her with any more questions.

  “Where do we go now?” Dirk asked.

  Sonya checked her watch. “Let’s try and find the bridge. That’s probably all we have time for on this trip.”

  They followed the large central passageway until they passed an open room with several glass chambers linked up along the walls. The space lit up as they came in. The first thing that struck Sonya was all the blood. The blood was dried out and had turned into a rust colored powder. The blood was all over the place. It looked obscene on such a pristine, white room.

  Some of the gore was splattered along the walls, whereas other liquids had pooled on the floor. A lot of it appeared to have spilled down through the metal grating to a gutter below. There were only two skeletons in the room, both on the floor in the middle of a huge pool of blood.
The rest of the cryo-sleep chambers were clean and empty.

  A chilled quiet filled the room.

  “What the hell happened here?” James said, breaking the silence.

  Dirk stared at the horror before him. “I have no idea.”

  Sonya shook her head slowly. “Neither do I, but it was bad, whatever it was. Really, really bad.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Did I hear you right, Captain?” Tom Blake, the CHENG, or Chief of Engineering asked. “Did you really order Sonya and her crew to bring the alien remains back on board?”

  Logan, who’d been inches from escaping the bridge so he could sneak a stiff drink, glared at Blake. In the eight years they’d served together, he and Blake had never been able to agree on anything, let alone Logan’s decisions concerning the ship and crew. Whenever Blake suspected Logan had been drinking, which was always, he’d slither up out of the bowels of the ship and come over to offer his unsolicited advice. Logan could honestly say there wasn’t a person on this earth he hated more than Blake. The grizzled old engineer looked like the ancient sea captains of old with a salt-and-pepper beard and bushy white eyebrows over fierce light blue eyes.