“Deal,” Ian said.
Lyra met Ian in the hallway outside Callista’s office door a few minutes later. “Thanks for finding the adapter, Ian.”
“I just hope it works,” Ian said. “I have to admit now, that I’m curious to see what’s going to happen.”
“Me too,” said Lyra. She knocked on the dragon carved door that was now becoming familiar. Nothing. She still opened it carefully and peeked in cautiously.
“Callista? You in here?” She went in and Ian followed. Of course Callista was in there, still in the same exact position that they had left her, with her head back and her eyes closed passed out in her office chair. The charge cord was still there too.
Ian crossed to the electrical outlet and attached the adapter. “Ok,” he said, “here goes nothing.” He plugged it back in.
The both waited in silence for a few minutes.
“Now what?” Ian asked.
“I don’t know,” Lyra said. She sat down in the only other chair in the room and looked down at the wound in her hand. It was much larger now, and was red with oozing blood. She gasped. “Ian!”
“What is it?” Ian asked. He must have seen the concern on her face.
She held up her hand to him. He blinked at it and looked at her. “What is it?”
She looked back down herself, and the wound was gone again. Was she going crazy?
“Ian, I don’t know what’s going on. The wound on my hand keeps disappearing and reappearing again. Right now it’s gone. But when it reappears, it’s even worse. Now it looks like it’s gone, but I know that it’s not.”
“How do you know?” Ian asked.
“Because it really hurts. I can feel it all the time.”
“Did you take some pain medicine?”
“Yes, Ian. I’m a doctor. I know to take pain medicine. I’m not interested in the pain, I’m interested in getting it fixed.”
“Sorry,” he said.
“I just don’t know what I’m going to do with work and everything if one minute I have a horrible gaping hand wound and the next minute I don’t. This game of now you see me bleeding and now you don’t is irritating. I guess after we get Callista settled, I’ll have to hang around the hospital so that the next time the wound shows up I can actually treat it. Maybe then it’ll get better.”
She frowned. “That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have any idea what is going on. Where did your stupid ghost fox come from anyway? Was that just for ratings?”
“Of course not,” Ian answered. “I have no idea where it came from. It wasn’t in the plan. Only you were in the plan. Hey, I’m really sorry about everything, ok? You just tell me how to help and I’ll do it.”
She gave him a small, worried smile. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
And then there was a sound in front of them. Callista sat up.
Okay, thought Lyra, the electricity must be working. Then she thought about the one other time that she had been awakened. She grabbed Ian’s hand and pulled him out the door.
“Ian, run. Now!”
The two of them barely made it past the wooden door when a burst of laser fire rang out.
“What is she doing?” Ian asked once they were out of range and stopped to catch their breath. “Why would she shoot at us?”
Lyra shook her head. “I don’t know, my best guess at having met her only three times is that she wakes up disoriented.”
“It’d be great next time if you give me a heads up before she starts shooting.”
“I did,” Lyra smirked, “but not by much, eh? Hey, I’m still learning here, too. I don’t know what’s going on with her any more than I know what’s going on with my stupid hand.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Let’s get you back to the hospital.”
Lyra kissed him. “It’s okay. I’ll go back to the hospital and get Vax or somebody to fix up my hand. You go catch up on your Fear Zone Universe stuff. I’ll call you if I need you. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Okay,” he said. But seriously, call if you need me.”
7
Lyra entered the waiting room. A quick look around revealed that it really was more crowded than usual.
“Hi, Gorb. When did all of these people get here?”
“Lyra! About time. I sent you a bunch of messages. We have lots of customers today. Grayson said he wants everybody here.”
“That makes sense. Hey, have you seen Nancy? I have a question for her.”
“Wow, Lyra, you were right about all of the unrealistic internet stuff on the internet. That was a really crazy episode of Fear Zone Universe. But your hand really did look like it got bit by a ghost fox. I saw the whole thing. How do you television stars do that? Do you have your own makeup artist?” Gorb asked. “And is Ian still mad at you for messing around with Callista?”
He shimmied back and forth in excitement. “I didn’t even know you were into that kind of thing, Lyra.” He held up a tendril, probably for a fist bump. She declined.
“How did you have time to watch the whole show if the hospital was this busy?” Lyra asked, getting irritated that he knew even more than he usually did.
“It’s called priorities, Lyra. You see, I live my life by a certain code. But really. That’s a gnarly looking wound. Did you have the makeup done in advance for the next show? Very realistic looking. Let me see it close up!”
Lyra was so distracted by everything going on that it didn’t occur to her what Gorb was saying, exactly. He was saying that he saw the wound, which meant that it was back. How had she not noticed? Even though she was afraid to, she glanced down at it, and it was worse than before. Much worse.
“No makeup artist,” Lyra answered him. She went to his desk. “Hey, Gorb, I know what I told you earlier, about things on tv not being real and everything, but I really did get bit.” She couldn’t help but worry a little bit. The whole thing was confusing. How had she gotten physically wounded by a ghost fox?
“Are you still messing with me?” Gorb asked, continuing to sway back and forth. “And how in the world are you managing to bleed fake blood right onto the floor like that?”
Lyra looked down and Gorb was right, she was bleeding on the floor. “No, I’m not messing with you, Gorb. I need help.”
“Now see? That sounds like you’re messing with me,” Gorb said. “I need help,” he said, trying to mimic her voice, “because that doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“Well it’s true, Gorb. Nancy. I really need to find her and talk to her. And Vax or Arthur. I need to get my hand fixed up right away. Ok?” Finally, he seemed to sense her urgency and seriousness.
“Of course,” he said. “Look, I’ll clean up the floor. Nancy’s back there in one of the patient rooms. Luckily for you, she’s on duty. Pretty much everybody is on duty, though.”
“Thanks,” Lyra said and headed back toward the patient rooms. First, she wrapped a bandage around her hand and then, she went and found Nancy in room thirty-four.
“Nancy, can I see you for a moment, please?” She waited for a minute while Nancy was busy doing something, but then she got impatient and pulled her out of the room by her sleeve.
“Sorry,” Lyra told the patient as she was pulling her out, “I’ll have her back in just a couple of minutes. Promise.”
The patient, an elderly orc, just waved at her.
“What is your deal?” Nancy asked once they were out in the hallway?
“Look,” said Lyra, holding out her hand.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” Nancy asked. “Oh, did you and Ian get engaged? No way. Where’s the ring? Tell me everything. Is he going to stay on Celestica? You’re not leaving, are you? Have you guys even talked about your future?”
Lyra buried her head in her hands. “I’m not engaged, Nancy. I got bit by a ghost fox. Live, on the air, on Ian’s web show.”
“Very funny.”
“I’m serious, Nancy. I’m hurt.”
Nancy’s expression
changed, finally. “Where did you get bit? I don’t see anything. Where did you guys find a ghost fox, anyway? I’ll bet it was at least really good for ratings, though, right?” Nancy asked.
“It bit me on the hand. And it gets worse,” Lyra said. “Look, back to my hand. Listen, I got bit, and I had a wound, and it actually bled. And then the wound was gone.”
“What are you talking about? Did you try the special coffee again? We talked about this. Do you need an intervention?”
“No. Nancy. I got bit by a ghost fox. A ghost. And it’s bad.”
Her eyes got huge. “You mean a ghost bite?”
“Yes, I guess. Look, I need to know everything you know about ghost bites and how to fix them.”
“Okay,” Nancy said, clearly dubious. “Here’s everything I know about ghost bites, they don’t exist.”
“Yes,” Lyra said. “They do. And I can prove it. When I got bit and the wound from the bite first appeared, a drop of blood fell onto Ian’s floor. Real blood. And it happened live on the air, everybody saw it.”
“You’re saying that you got bit by a ghost animal and bled real blood?”
Finally, Lyra thought. “Yes. Exactly.”
Nancy just stood there for a moment looking worried. That couldn’t be a good sign.
“Maybe you’re mistaken,” Nancy said at last. “About the blood.”
Lyra shook her head, grabbed Nancy by the hand, and took her to the front desk with her.
“Gorb, you watched the whole show?” Lyra asked.
“Yeah, boss. You were smoking hot on the screen.”
“Thank you. You saw me get bit by the ghost fox, right?”
“Of course, it’s all over the internet. Look.” Gorb brought the video clip up on his computer.
Lyra pulled Nancy over and they all gathered around the computer and watched it together.
Huh, thought Lyra, I do look pretty good on screen. She watched the cute ghost fox pop up. Then she rolled the ball and it went right through him. Check. Hey, this video really is awesome. “You say this clip is trending?”
“Top one hundred in the entire universe,” he responded, “huge.”
“Okay, there,” Lyra said pointing and watching herself on the screen walk up to the ball and bend down to pick it up.
The fox jumped up, bit her hand, and whipped his head back and forth before dropping to the ground. On screen, Ian and Lyra look on with shock on their faces. No wonder the video was trending so high, it’s just not possible to fake that level of surprise.
And then the money shot. The blood drips from her hand onto the floor. Their faces follow the drop down and then the camera zooms in.
“There,” Lyra said, “plain as day. I got bit. I bled. A drop fell onto the floor. Ghost bite for the win.” She held her arms up in celebration.
“Ow.” The pain in her hand came back. She looked down and there was the wound again. The bite wound was bigger now, and a much angrier red color. If Lyra didn’t know for sure that she only got bit a little while ago, she’d suspect it was infected already, which was crazy.
She showed it to Nancy, who was still white as a sheet from watching the video.
Nancy grabbed her hand and looked at it. “Oh, Lyra, this is not good. You have to take care of this right now.”
“Fine,” Lyra said. “I will admit that it’s not good, but now that you believe me about the ghost bite, what does it mean and what can I do about it?”
Nancy, eyes wide, shook her head. “I have no idea, but I’ll make a few phone calls. I have some aunts who know a lot more about this type of thing than I do.”
“You’ve been calling your crazy ghost-knowledge aunts all day, haven’t they come up with something useful yet?”
“I wish,” Nancy said. “They just talk my ear off about how many of my cousins and relatives are getting married. And every time I call them, everything has changed again. They can’t keep up.”
“Well, neither can I,” Lyra said. “Tell them it’s important. Tell them Ian from Fear Zone Universe will send them a digital autograph if they help me.”
Nancy shook her head. “Okay. I’ll tell them, here goes nothing.”
Nancy left to make phone calls to ask distant relatives about weird ghost bites.
That left Lyra rushing for a hand wash and antibiotic shot to take care of her wound. She got everything set up, grateful that it was her left hand that got bit and not her right hand. Just as she held her hand over the sink, the wound disappeared again.
No! Now what was she supposed to do? Just wait until it came back? What was she supposed to do in the meantime?
8
Ian walked quickly once he left Callista’s office. He had been getting worrying text messages from Fear Zone Universe’s parent corporation. He didn’t want to tell Lyra because she had enough on her mind as it was.
It wasn’t unusual for him to get text messages from them, but this many messages was certainly unusual. Something was going on, and it was worrying him.
It better be an award notification for all of the ratings records that I’ve been breaking, he thought. Or at least he fervently hoped, because he had never gotten any nice, positive messages from those people.
It was always, Hey, Ian, you forgot to include this detail that we hadn’t yet provided to you on your tax form and now you’re in trouble, or labor laws are different outside the civilized universe and on a ‘rural’ zoned space station with a population below two million but above two hundred and fifty thousand and so your percentage of the profits will now be three percent lower.
Ian stewed for a moment before checking his phone. The number one thought in his mind was, What do they want now?
He took a deep breath. He held it and exhaled. Then he was ready, he stopped walking for a minute and brought up the messages on his phone. He began reading the texts.
Hey, what do you know? I was nominated for several awards! Go, me! I’ll have to text Lyra. Later, when she gets her hand taken care of.
That settled happily, he put his phone back in his pocket and kept walking down the hallway.
That is, until the weird ginger ghost appeared before him. She hovered menacingly in his direction, her eyes fixed on him in a way he absolutely did not like.
“Um, sorry, but I’m already spoken for,” he said to her, taking several steps backward.
She cackled at him, a sound that reverberated through his brain and body and out of his toes. Then, without warning, she flew forward and grabbed him.
9
Maura was unsure of what do next. As she made her way down the hallway toward her office, she kept getting funny looks because of the vial of purple liquid she was carrying, so she put it in her pocket. The two vials clinked when she walked, but there were no more odd stares in her direction.
She opened her office door and then closed it before heaving herself into her chair. This was absolutely the weirdest morning ever. Even for a Monday.
She pulled out her cellphone and skimmed the new messages. Word had gotten around that she was both more responsive and effective than Crash.
Damn him. Maybe she should pay him a visit and tell him to start doing his job. Weird ghost monsters did not fall under her jurisdiction. And freaked out space station residents were supposed to call him.
The video of the monster passing right through her left her with a strange, unsettled feeling, like she had no idea what had just happened to her.
And the vials, she had no idea what to make of them. She took them out and put them on the desk. The glass containers were made of beautiful etched glass. She picked up one of the bottles and searched it for directions on how to store it and use it.
Does it have to be refrigerated? Was she supposed to gulp down a whole vial in one sitting or divide it up? What would it do to her? And how would she know when to take it? Did it have any side effects?
As for Jane’s prediction that she would regret the whole thing, that had already come to pass. She lif
ted her shirt and checked her scratch, but it was gone. That’s weird, she thought, I remember it being there. But I guess I might also have a head injury. I guess I should call Lyra later and have it checked out.
Right now, though, she didn’t have any pain or other weird symptoms. So far, so good. Hopefully she wouldn’t even need the odd vials. And if she did, she could always call Jane and ask what to do.
She put the vials in a desk drawer for safekeeping and scanned the new texts messages on her phone. She drummed her fingers on the desk. Should she call Crash directly? No, she got a better idea, she’d go over his head.
“Hello, Floyd? It’s Maura. Well, there’s weird stuff happening all over the space station. I’m still getting dozens and dozens of messages about ghosts. And apparently Crash isn’t doing anything about it.”
She listened for a few minutes while Floyd made excuses for him.
“Yes, the orc area of the ship is secure. There are no issues there.” Then Floyd tried to offer up some advice about her helping out more.
“Nope, sorry,” she said to him, “ghosts and other floating creatures that aren’t real are unmistakably not under the jurisdiction of pest control. Trust me, I checked. Three times.” She listened again.
“Well, maybe it’s time Crash hired some people to help out if he can’t handle it. But the problem doesn’t appear to be necessarily that he can’t handle it, it’s that he won’t. And you know what’s going to happen when these superstitious residents start taking things into their own hands, don’t you? That’s right, injuries and lawsuits. Way beyond just a busted-up hospital waiting room like last time. This place is about to descend into chaos, Floyd, and my species interaction charts are not going to be able to stop it. You’d better do something and do it fast.”
For Ian, everything went black after the ghost girl grabbed him. The next thing he remembered was blinking and being in a large room.
Maybe. Or maybe he was just in a dream. The room he was in didn’t look like any part of Celestica that he had ever been in before. Instead of metallic gray walls, the room was a soft, glowing blue.
Digital Ghosts: Book 2 of the Space Station At The Edge Of The Black Hole Series Page 6
