Digital Ghosts: Book 2 of the Space Station At The Edge Of The Black Hole Series

by L. A. Johnson

  Astrid crossed the room and sat down on her couch, but not adjacent to him, and fixed him with an icy smile. “Don’t even think about ripping off my decorating ideas, or I swear I will-“

  She stopped and took a deep breath and smiled. “Let me begin again. Look at those fish up in my aquarium, Grayson. Do you see them?”

  He nodded.

  “Every single one of them pissed me off. And now they’re fish. In an aquarium. How do you feel about the water, Grayson? You want me to make you a permanent resident? Is that what you want?”

  His face went white. Apparently, he didn’t have something breezy and idiotic to say just now. Good.

  The fish were just fish. Astrid simply liked taking advantage of people who had no idea what she could and couldn’t do. It was better for them to have a healthy fear of her than to ignorantly try to push her around. She simply didn’t have the patience for that sort of thing anymore.

  “No, no,” Grayson said. “Please, I hate the ocean. I don’t even eat seafood.”

  Astrid sank into the gloriousness that was her best new couch. It was even better than she had hoped. She may as well enjoy it too.

  “Then why are you here, Grayson? Other than to annoy me and come in uninvited and sit on my favorite couch. Now, what can I do for you or to you in order to get you out of my apartment?”

  “Look,” Grayson began again. “I’ve been around long enough to know that you’re the real deal. And something weird is going on around the space station. Have you noticed anything unusual?”

  Astrid thought back to her phantom ex-boyfriend this morning, but she wasn’t about to share that with him. “Like what?”

  “Well, the dating service sent me to the wrong address.”

  “Hey,” Astrid said with a smirk, “you never know, sometimes that’s how you end up with true love.”

  “Yes, but Lyra got sent to the hospital waiting room with a false text as well.”

  “Lyra. That’s the leather wearing, tattooed doctor chick I met after your little blowout with the weird mad scientist, right?”

  Grayson nodded.

  “Her I like. I like the plucky ones. You’re another matter. And what the hell does any of this have to do with me?”

  Grayson leaned in toward her. “I overheard Lyra and Nancy discussing the idea that Celestica is currently being haunted.”

  “Oh,” Astrid said, changing her tone, “I do love a good ghost story. Keep going.”

  “No, that’s it,” he answered.

  “Lame,” she said. “So you just came here to get a magic do-over for an iffy date, eh?”

  “That would get rid of me, yes, but mark my words, this haunting thing isn’t over.”

  “Okay,” she said, “well what makes you think that there’s anything that I could or would do about it?”

  He smiled a predatory smile at her that she did not like at all. “Because, like it or not, you are now part of the ecosystem here. A big fish, if you will,” he said with a smirk. “I know that you are more plugged into these types of things than you are letting on, and when it’s time you’re going to have to pull your weight.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Astrid asked, her fingers were itching with magic that could make his life not worth living.

  He shook his head. “Never in a million years. I believe in you, remember that. What I’m saying is that if we all go down, then you’re going to go down with us, by definition. You’re not a lone wolf, or lone sea-space-witch as the case may be, anymore. From now on, you’re going to need us just as much as we’ll need you. Symbiotic. I think in time, you’ll find this existence way more fun than holing up by yourself in a magical lair anyway.”

  Astrid cleared her throat. “You’ve done your homework on me, old man. I’ll give you that. Magical lairs have a lot more going for them than you think, by the way. And I may even help you from time to time. But if you ever come barging in here with a boring ghost story and a demand for a refund again, you will end up in my fish tank. If you’re lucky.”

  She produced a business card in her hand out of nowhere. “Take this, it has all of my contact information. So, you can text me next time instead of ringing my doorbell. It will be way safer for you that way. Got it?”

  He nodded.

  “Good boy. Now, as a show of good faith, I will, in fact, give you another shot of love potion. But that’s it, no more do-overs, you cheapskate. From now on you pay as you go. In advance.”

  He nodded eagerly. She did as she promised and sent him on his way. Then she closed the door and shook her head. The nerve of some people.

  Lyra knocked on Ian’s apartment door. She had run home and freshened up her makeup before coming over, and was wearing racier clothes than normal, but still had the doctor coat on. If Ian’s fans were expecting to meet his hot doctor girlfriend, then that’s what they were going to get.

  He opened the door with a big grin. “Just in time. Oh, look at you.” He kissed her. “You look fantastic! Thanks for doing this. My fans are nerds and ever since I mentioned that I was dating someone they have been begging to meet you. You know how it is.”

  “I don’t, actually,” Lyra said. “You’re the big star, not me.”

  “Such a big star that you were keeping it a secret from your friends,” he chided.

  “My friends are judgy.” She kissed him back. “And I think it’s great that you’re a big star. In fact, you’re the very first celebrity that I’ve ever dated. And I think that after the show, maybe we should celebrate.” She nibbled on his ear.

  He swallowed. “I fully support that plan,” he said. “And I don’t believe I’ve ever said this before, but let’s get this show over with!” He led her over to the camera, holding her hand.

  “You ready?” he asked her.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  “Hello, everybody, it’s me, Ian. I’d like to welcome you all to a very special episode of Fear Zone Universe. It’s special for a couple of reasons. First, of course, is that I am broadcasting live from Celestica Space Station. That’s right folks, as you know, I’m here at the space station at the edge of the black hole. Let’s grab a few seconds of that video so that you can see it. Spectacular, isn’t it?”

  He let the video run for a few seconds. “And the other reason that this is a very special episode is that my girlfriend, Lyra is here with me.”

  He stopped talking and widened the screen so that everybody could see her.

  “Hello,” Lyra said and waved. “I’m Lyra. I’m a doctor at Celestica Hospital here on the station.”

  The chat box went crazy with notification beeps and Ian glanced down at it. “See, people? I told you she was real. Yes, I told you she was hot too.”

  He smiled broadly and typed in a half dozen quick responses in the chat box online before continuing. “And you’ll never guess what the subject of this particular show is. We have a very fun one for you today.”

  There were collective gasps from the live audience, though, and the chat room went crazy again. Lyra raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to read what was going on. Before, the fans were reacting to Ian, but this came out of nowhere.

  Then Lyra looked up from the chat box to the live video feed and saw it. Behind her. Her breath caught in her throat.

  “Ian,” she said, and pointed to the screen.

  Behind the two of them, right there in his apartment, was a glowing, blue fox. Lyra had to admit, seeing it appear out of nowhere was freaky, even if it was an effect. “Ian, how’d you do that?” she whispered.

  “I didn’t,” he said.

  And then the two of them, slowly and together, turned around. And there it was. Much to her surprise, the fox wasn’t a special effect on the computer screen, it was behind them in real life.

  Lyra gasped. “Ian, what’s going on?”

  “Whatever it is, it’s going to be ratings gold, isn’t it, people? Well, the cat, or should I say the fox is out of the bag now, isn’t it? That’s the nex
t thing I was going to tell you FZU fans. As if this space station isn’t spooky enough already, and as if the A.I. Zombie mad scientist incident wasn’t already too far into the realm of crazy, the space station appears to be going through some sort of haunting! Look, a ghost fox. How cool is that?”

  Ian couldn’t help but glance at the ratings, which were growing exponentially by the second. “As you can see by Lyra’s reaction, that fox is really there.”

  Ian and Lyra turned their attention back and forth from the screen to the small apparition behind them.

  “Aw,” said Lyra, “he’s cute. Hi, little guy.” She grabbed a laundry ball on a nearby counter and held it up. The fox was interested. She rolled it at him. The blue ball went right through his left paw and kept going.

  “Amazing,” Ian said. “Lyra, I think you just got photographic evidence that ghosts exist. Did you guys see that? The ball went straight through him.”

  The fox tried again to pounce on the ball, which had come to rest near the wall. No matter how much he jumped and bit at it, though, it didn’t budge.

  Poor thing. He wants to play.” Lyra crossed the room and reached down to retrieve the little blue ball.

  The fox jumped up, growled adorably, and bit her.

  Lyra pulled her hand back. A shock of pain and surprise spread across her hand. “Ouch. He bit me.”

  “What?” Ian asked. “He can’t bite you, he’s a ghost, remember? You saw what happened with the ball.”

  Lyra looked at her hand and then showed it to Ian. There was a bite wound on her hand, and there was blood. In fact, a single, big drop of blood fell onto the white tiled floor.

  Lyra, Ian, and all of the people watching via livecast that the two of them completely forgot about at that moment, watched it happen.

  Lyra stared at the blood on the floor and then back at her own hand. The wound was gone. In fact, that’s when the two of them remembered that they were far from alone, from the gasps in the audience at the wound in her hand having disappeared. It still hurt though, which bothered Lyra. And then there was still the drop of blood on the floor. Otherwise, Lyra would doubt the entire fox bite episode, despite it having happened to her only a minute before.

  Blood. That reminded Lyra of something. “Oh no, the blood. Ian, I have to go.”

  “It’s just a drop,” Ian said. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to be okay.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I have to bring some of my blood to Callista. I forgot.”

  “Hey, I thought we were exclusive,” Ian said.

  “We are, you idiot. It’s not what you think.” She raised both eyebrows at him angrily and pointed at the camera. “We can talk about this later. I need to get to Callista’s office.” She thought for a moment. “And now I’m a little freaked out, so you’re going to have to come with me.”

  There were more gasps from the audience. Lyra looked around to find that the ghost fox was gone. “I think ghost fox is gone, Ian, do you see it anywhere?”

  “No,” he said, scanning the place. Then he faced the camera and his audience. “How weird was that? I am SO glad that you guys saw everything, because I’m not sure I believe it myself. Hey camera, zoom in on that drop of blood. That’s pretty good as far as ghost hunting evidence, I’d say.”

  Then Ian took a deep breath as the camera zoomed back to him. “Well,” he said to his audience, “that was fun, wasn’t it?” He glanced at the computer screen for a second. “Plenty to talk about in that episode, which as luck would have it, just broke new ratings records. Thanks guys, see you soon. This is Ian, signing off temporarily from Fear Zone Universe live at Celestica Space Station.”

  He turned back to Lyra, who was still cradling her hand. “Sorry about that, honey. Are you okay? You want an ibuprofen or something?”

  “No, I don’t want an ibuprofen. I want to know why you freaked out about Callista. You really think something is going on there? That’s what you think of me? Are you crazy?”

  “Oh,” Ian said. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Well, none of that went exactly the way I planned it and I got thrown off my game.”

  “Fine,” Lyra said. “Just for that, though, you have to come with me.”

  “To see Callista?” he asked.

  “To see Callista.”

  “Are you sure that’s necessary? Maybe she’s expecting you to come alone.”

  “You’re coming,” Lyra said. “Don’t make me pull you by the ear.”

  Grayson left Astrid’s apartment with a spring in his step. Oh yeah, still got it.

  All he had to do now was head back to his apartment, spruce himself up, and then sift through the pictures of the most gorgeous women on the space station.

  His phone rang. He picked it up cheerfully. “You have reached Grayson. I’m very busy at the moment and am not the least bit interested in hearing what your message is.”

  “It’s Crash, Grayson. We’ve got a problem.”

  “You mean you’ve got a problem,” Grayson said. “I have a fantastic opportunity. And I’m not going to give it up in order to help you do your job.”

  Before Crash interrupted again, he figured he should go for broke. “And just a heads up, I already posted positions for five new security guards, so don’t even think about arguing.”

  “It’s not about that, Grayson. We’ve got a real problem.”

  “Enough to make me cancel my date? Think long and hard before your next words, Crash.”

  “Grayson, we’ve got some Intergalactic Feds here.”

  “So help them with whatever their investigation is. Why are you even calling me?”

  “Well, Grayson, let me be very clear. They have a weapon trained on me. They’ve taken control over the entire space station. And they say that they’re shutting us down.”

  “Where are you?” Grayson asked. Whoever these people were, they were about to get double barrels of angry Grayson. Intergalactics, eh? Well, I have plenty of political connections myself. We’ll just see about who’s still in charge of Celestica.

  6

  Lyra and Ian made their way to the deserted end of the ship until they stood in front of the dragon etched, wood carved double doors. Callista’s office.

  “What do we do now?” Ian asked.

  “We knock,” Lyra said, fist poised near the door. She knocked gently. They waited and listened. Nothing. Lyra knocked again, louder this time, with the same response.

  “Callista?” Lyra called. “You in there? Hey, don’t shoot, okay. I brought you the blood that you asked for.”

  There was still no response from inside.

  “What do you mean don’t shoot?” Ian asked. “And what’s the deal with you giving her blood?”

  Lyra held a hand up to quiet him. She slid the door open and peeked inside. It looked like Callista was passed out in her office chair. Her head was back, and her eyes were closed, and she didn’t appear to be breathing. Although, to be fair, that last part might be because she’s a vampire.

  Lyra opened the door all the way and went in. Ian followed her.

  When Lyra got to Callista, she could see a cord plugged into the wall and the other end of it plugged into Callista’s right arm, snaking up the sleeve of her black top.

  “Is she, um, dead?” Ian asked as the two of them got to her desk. “Did she electrocute herself or something?”

  “I don’t think so,” Lyra said. “From what she said she is part vampire and part malfunctioning cyborg. She told me she wanted to stay awake. I think that’s why she needed the electricity.”

  “What was that about electricity? I thought you said that she needed blood.”

  “You’re not going to let it go, are you? Look.” She pulled the tiny tube of blood out of her pocket and held it up for him to see. “This tiny tube, right here. It’s all she needs. There’s no weirdness, no biting. Just a tiny tube. Are you happy now?”

  Ian exhaled. “Yes.”

  Lyra put the vial of blood back in her pocket. “No re
ally, are we good,” she persisted. “Because I don’t want to hear any more about the stupid blood. I’m trying to help her take control of her life. It’s not weird.”

  He held up his hands. “Got it. You have to admit, though. Context was needed.”

  “I admit nothing, you need to stop jumping to conclusions.”

  “Why did she plug herself in again if she wasn’t trying to kill herself?”

  “Like I said, she’s some kind of throwback, hybrid cyborg. At least that’s what she told me. She needs electricity and blood. I helped her find the charge cord and then went to draw the blood. I wonder what happened?”

  “When this happens, how do you wake her up?” Ian asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  Lyra’s phone buzzed. She pulled it out and checked it. The emergency room was getting busy and they needed more help. Ok, she thought, keep your clothes on. She put her phone away.

  Ian followed the end of the charge cord to the wall plug. He unplugged it and looked at it. “Oh, I think I see the problem,” he said.

  Lyra walked over to him. “What is it?”

  “This cord, it says a hundred and forty volts.”

  “So?”

  “Well, this space station is wired at three hundred and twenty.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Well, I just got here. I had to do the research and make sure that I had enough adapters to make all of my equipment run properly. On the Celestica website, it said that twenty years ago the voltage changed to accommodate all of the updated electronics as well as to make a good faith attempt to become more energy efficient.”

  “How does upping the juice on everything across the board make us more energy efficient?” Lyra asked.

  Ian shrugged. “Beats me. I think the main idea is that if things charge faster, fewer overall electricity is used.”

  “I guess so,” Lyra said. Her phone buzzed again, but she ignored it.

  “Hey, I happen to have a few extra three-forty-volt adapters in my room. Maybe that will help her charge and wake up.”

  “That sounds like a good plan. You go get the adapter and I’ll stay with her until you get back.”