ScareScapes Book One: Phantom Limbs!

by Jake Bible

  “But you saw something in that bay, right?” Bessie asks.

  Landon shrugs. “Maybe. But like I said, maybe it was a bot.”

  “It was not a bot,” Bessie says. “I know the difference between a bot and a ship. You can’t climb inside a bot and fire off an EMP.”

  “This is crazy,” I say. “Ship is real.”

  Bessie stops walking and grabs my arm. “Wait. What if we look for it a different way? Come at it from below?”

  “Come at it…Oh, right!” I smile. “The way we got in.”

  “The way you got in?” Landon asks.

  “Yeah!” I yell as I turn and run, Bessie close behind me. “The galley!”

  “Wait!” Landon shouts, but we are already around the corner.

  We work our way through the Scorpio until we get to the mess hall. Small hover bots are moving around, busy repairing the broken tables and other parts of the large room. Hurrying around them as they zip this way and that, Bessie and I burst into the galley. Then stop.

  “Where is it?” I ask, seeing a perfectly smooth floor. A hover bot is running back and forth, using a sonic mop to clean and polish the floor. “Where’s the hatch?”

  “This is really starting to fruit me off,” Bessie says.

  “I was trying to tell you guys before you ran off,” Landon says, huffing and puffing as he finally catches up to us. “The hatch has been sealed off. All of them have.”

  “What? Why?” I ask.

  “They were a security risk,” Landon says. “Even if the bots have had their overrides removed, the tunnels between decks can be used by anyone to get from one part of the ship to another without being detected.”

  He walks to the wall and taps at a display. A holographic schematic of the Scorpio comes up.

  “See?” he asks. “All sealed off. That was another objective of the Security diagnostics, to find weaknesses in the Scorpio’s structure. Security determined the hatches are weaknesses.”

  “But how will the loader bots move supplies around?” Bessie asks.

  “They won’t,” Landon says. “Since there’s only us awake, we don’t need pallets of supplies moved from this place to that. We can get what we need when we need it or have one of the hover bots help.”

  “That’s kinda a Systems call,” Bessie says, glaring at Landon.

  “Yes, Chief Sacher?” Systems asks.

  “I was talking about Systems, not calling you,” Bessie says.

  “Understood,” Systems says. “Thank you for clarifying.”

  “That AI gets way too literal sometimes,” Bessie sighs.

  “Listen, forget about that ship,” Landon says. “We can look for it later. We still have a lot of work to do to get the Scorpio secure the way it needs to be.” He smiles and gestures out of the galley. “Plus, it’s a gorgeous day in the dome. Let’s not waste it inside, okay? We’ve been working hard for the last week since Security’s test.” He looks up at the ceiling. “Which totally wasn’t cool!” he smiles back at us. “I think we all could use some down time.”

  “In the sky dome?” Bessie asks.

  “In the sky dome,” Landon smiles. “The others are already out there. I, uh, think Ajay has made a picnic for us.” He uses air quotes around the word “picnic.” “She wanted to do it all on her own, so be nice and pretend to like it. The galley wouldn’t let her cook anything, so who knows what she’s gathered up.”

  “Yikes,” Bessie says.

  “Shall we?” Landon smiles.

  “Fine.” I frown. “We’ll go have fun. But then we get back to looking for the bay. It’s here somewhere.”

  “Sure, whatever you say.” Landon smirks.

  “You’re not going to help us look anymore, are you?” I ask.

  “Probably not,” he says. “But I wish you tons of luck finding it.”

  “Whatever,” I say, and push past him. “Let’s go have fun.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Landon laughs.

  He leads us through the passageways to the dome portal hatch. We have to take a few detours because of hover bots repairing the gouges the loader bots left in the floors. It’s slow going, but it gives me more chances to look about, hoping to find some clue as to where the bay with Ship in it is.

  “Remember,” Landon says, his hand on the portal hatch handle. “Be nice and try to pretend the picnic is good.”

  “We’ll do our best,” Bessie says, as Landon opens the hatch and motions for us to go through.

  It looks like the meadows have been mowed and I can see Carlos, Enrico, and Felix zipping around on the hover bikes Bessie finally got working, while Ajay is busy setting up her picnic on a large red blanket.

  “Mmm, looks good,” Bessie says a little too enthusiastically as we get to the blanket. “Did you do that all by yourself?”

  Ajay looks up and frowns. “You don’t have to try it if you don’t want to.”

  We look at all the fruit piled onto different plates. Some of the fruit is green, some is red, some is bright purple. But we all know it tastes like fruit, no matter what the color.

  “No, no, I want to try it,” Bessie says. “Yum.”

  “Uh, what’s to drink, little sis?” Landon asks, crouching next to Ajay as he taps a large jug.

  “Fruit juice,” Ajay says. “I squeezed it myself.” She holds up her hands to show us the multicolored stains. “See?”

  “Yep, I see,” Landon says.

  “Want a glass?” Ajay asks, picking up a red plastic cup from a stack next to the jug.

  “Uh…you know I do,” Landon says. He glances up at us, his eyes pleading.

  “Make sure to pour him a lot,” Bessie says. “Landon loves him some juice.”

  “He does?” Ajay asks. “Great!”

  She holds the cup, but has a hard time lifting and pouring from the jug at the same time.

  “Here,” I say, kneeling down. “Let me help you.”

  “I’ll hold the cup so you can keep working on the picnic,” Bessie says, kneeling next to me.

  I fill the cup all the way to the top and hold it out to Landon.

  “Better have a sip before it spills,” I say.

  “Drink up,” Bessie adds.

  “Thanks, guys,” Landon says, his face pinched as he struggles to keep a smile on his face. “You’re the best.”

  “We know,” I say.

  Landon takes a sip and grins. “Yummy.”

  “Drink it all now,” Bessie says. “Your sister worked hard on that.”

  “It’s okay if he doesn’t want to drink it all,” Ajay says.

  “No, no, he wants to,” Bessie says. “Don’t you, Landon?”

  He glares at her, but then lifts the cup again, puts it to his lips and chugs. He downs it in three gulps then lets loose with the loudest belch ever.

  “Bravo!” Carlos says as he pulls up next to the blanket on his hover bike.

  “I give it a ten!” Enrico shouts, joining him.

  “Dude, that’s gross,” Felix says, zipping the hover bike around us a few times before stopping and letting it settle to the ground. “You are going to be so sick.”

  Landon burps again and then lies down on the blanket.

  “I think I’m going blind,” he says.

  “Stop it,” Ajay says. “It’s not that bad.”

  “Yes, it is,” he mouths to us.

  Bessie and I lie down next to him and look up at the perfectly blue sky of the dome.

  The three boys get off their bikes, politely refuse the fruit Ajay offers them (or as polite as they can be), and lay down on the blanket too. We all stretch out and stare up into the sky while Ajay seems content with moving piles of fruit from one plate to another.

  “Clouds would be nice,” Carlos says. “I miss clouds. I’d like to be able to see cloud animals again.”

  “Yeah, that would be cool,” Enrico says. “Why can’t we have clouds in the dome?”

  “The moisture won’t condense,” Bessie says. “Not like it doe
s on Earth. Just not how the atmospheric processors work.”

  “Then what are those?” Ajay asks, finally done with her busy work. She scoots between me and Landon, settling into the crook of his arm. “See! Clouds!”

  “What? Where?” Bessie asks.

  “Over there,” Ajay says, pointing to a spot just above the edge of the forest. “That one looks like a snake.”

  Bessie sits up and squints into the light. She studies the spot for a second then looks over at Felix.

  “What does that look like to you?” she asks. “Is it composed like a real cloud?”

  “How do I know what a real cloud is composed of?” Felix says. “It looks like a cloud.”

  Then he frowns.

  “What?” Bessie asks, standing up quickly.

  “If it’s a cloud, it isn’t made up of water particles,” Felix says.

  “So you do know what a cloud is.” I laugh.

  “Hush,” Bessie snaps.

  I start to reply, but I see the serious look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “Felix? What is it?” Bessie asks.

  Landon and I both get to our feet as we shield our eyes and look at the quickly lengthening cloud.

  “I don’t know,” he says. “I really don’t know. The colors are all over the spectrum. It keeps changing.”

  “Attention crew members,” Systems voice booms. “For your own safety, please do not enter the dome. Systems diagnostics will begin in fifteen minutes.”

  “Systems! Stop!” Bessie orders. “We’re in the dome!”

  “Again, attention all crew members,” Systems announces once more. “For your own safety, please do not enter the dome. Systems diagnostics in fifteen minutes. Have a nice day.”

  “Systems? Systems! Stop!” Bessie shouts. “This is Chief Sacher ordering you to stop the diagnostics in the dome!”

  There is no response.

  “Systems!”

  Still no response.

  “We should get out of here,” Landon says, scooping Ajay up into his arms.

  “Good call,” Carlos says, hopping on a hover bike. “Race you to the hatch!”

  Felix and Enrico get on theirs and hurry off to the portal hatch, leaving us behind.

  “Thanks!” I shout.

  The hatch isn’t too far away, so none of us really panic as we run to it. But we do panic when Bessie tries to turn the handle.

  It won’t move.

  “Diagnostics in ten minutes,” Systems announces. “Have a nice day.”

  There’s a bright flash and a loud crack. We all blink and then cover our ears. Ajay screams at the noise.

  “That’s not good,” Felix says, pointing to the cloud. “Can you see that?”

  The cloud has gotten even bigger, and now there are bursts of electricity that play around the edges.

  Landon keeps trying the portal hatch. Even Felix gives it a try with his arm. But it is sealed shut.

  We look at each other, our eyes wide with fear.

  “Oh fruit,” we say at the same time.

  About the Author

  Jake Bible lives in Asheville, NC with his wife and two kids.

  Novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, Jake is able to switch between or mash-up genres with ease to create new and exciting storyscapes that have captivated and built an audience of thousands.

  He is the author of the Young Adult horror novels Little Dead Man and Intentional Haunting, as well as the best selling adult horror series Z-Burbia and adult thriller/adventure series, Mega.

  Find him at jakebible.com. Join him on Twitter and Facebook.