Captain Kelang turned to me too, his lips twisted into a crooked smile. “Ms. Holloman, how would you feel about trying an exorcism?”
CHAPTER 4
WHO GOES THERE?
I looked from the Captain to Tobias and then to Mr. de Sande waiting for one of them to smile or laugh, wanting this to be some sort of sick initiation prank.
“You’re serious?” The Captain wasn’t smiling. “Sir?” I finished.
“Mr. Solonius, will you and Ms. Williams go in there and fix my engine if our chaplain goes in first and performs the rites?”
“Yes, sir. That’s what we agreed to.” His downcast eyes were telling me that he was regretting the bargain now that he had met me.
“Go get some lunch, Ms. Holloman, and then gather whatever else you need for this. Mr. de Sande, have her at the port aft engine room in an hour.”
“She’ll be there,” he promised for me.
I went through the line in the mess hall, picking fish of some kind with Dulcinean purple tubers. I tried a bite. Not as good as Dad makes, but I don’t think anything would have tasted very good to me right then. I thought while I chewed. The emotional connection sounded just like what I shared with Dad and Hannah. Could the source be the same? Something on Wandering Star that had tied us together? I wasn’t sure that connection was a bad thing. I kind of liked it, it made us closer as a family. The intense romantic feelings were troubling, although even that wasn’t necessarily bad. Tobias sure seemed happy with it.
I needed more information and there was only one place to get it. I unrolled my display pad and punched in a connection to Dad. DND flashed back at me, Do Not Disturb. I tried Hannah and got the same result.
“Huh,” I said out loud. “I guess you must have already caught her, Dad.” I doubted Hannah had tried too hard to get away from him. My finger was hovering above the override icon, to put my call through anyway, when Sam sat down in front of me carrying a piece of pie.
“Hey, MD, rumor has it that you’re going ghost hunting this afternoon.”
“MD?”
“Yeah, your initials.”
“Yes, I know they’re my initials. I’m just wondering why you’re calling me by them.”
“It seems easier than saying Mal-Uh Du-Sa every time I see you, don’t you think?” He took a bite of pie.
“Maybe ‘Ms. Holloman’ would be easier for you.”
“Oh.” He seemed to realize for the first time that I hadn’t been charmed by him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you. May I call you Mala Dusa?”
“Fine, whatever.”
“Thank you. Please call me Sam. I just wanted to tell you some of the things the tech team told me over lunch, about how Wandering Star has been haunted for a long time.”
I looked up at him from my lunch and unplaced call. “OK, go on.”
“Well, no one knows exactly when it started but at least ten years ago. There have been stories of people seeing things, shimmers in the shadows, something moving in their peripheral vision that isn’t there, that sort of thing. Sometimes people have felt weird things, strange emotions or they think they can feel what someone else is feeling. I don’t think I’d like that, if someone knew what I was feeling, you know?” He smiled at me nervously.
“What else?”
“Sara Jenkins, the team linguist, claims to have seen two different women and watched them disappear. One had dark hair and seemed to be in a hurry. She was running around the infirmary and crying.”
I felt a chill go through me. “And the other one?”
“Well, that’s what brought this up. Sara says the other one looked just like you. A little older, maybe, and even thinner than you.”
I frowned at him.
“Um, but she was pretty like you. That’s what she said.”
Sam wasn’t a good liar, but Hannah was right about his eyes. They were blue, and I could see in them that he was not as sure of himself as he was trying to sound. “Star must have lots of images stored in her brain.” I told him. “She can make anyone appear anywhere. It’s like this business in the engine room. There’s nothing supernatural about it, just Star playing tricks.”
Sam nodded. “I’ll go with you if you want.”
“Why? Do you know anything about fixing engines?”
“No, I just thought, you know…”
I smiled at him. “Thanks, but I’m not scared. And if whatever affected Mr. Solonius and Ms. Williams is still active, I think it’d be better that I’m alone.”
“Right! I heard about them. Sorry, you’re right, you have to be alone.” He blushed, which was kind of cute.
I took another bite of lunch and looked back at the DND still flashing on my screen. Sam excused himself and I was about to hit the override when Tobias and Mr. de Sande sat down across from me.
“Are you ready, Ms. Holloman? We still need to get you changed and ready to go.”
I sighed and cancelled my call. They probably would have just lied to me anyway, or told me only part of the truth.
“Almost ready, Mr. Solonius. Star? Can you please put the exorcism ritual on my screen?”
“For a person, object or place?”
“Um, one for exorcising a place, please.”
The words appeared on my display pad. “Is this what you’re looking for, Ms. Holloman? I have several variations available if you would like a different one, but I assure you that I’m not haunted or possessed. If I were, I’m certain that I’d know it.”
“This is perfect, Star. Thanks.” I had no idea if it was perfect. The only exorcisms I had ever seen were at the theater, usually accompanied by teenagers screaming and running in terror from holographic demons. “I guess I’m ready.” I walked out of the mess hall with Tobias while Mr. de Sande went to work ‘other issues’.
I was willing myself to be the chaplain and wondering what a real chaplain would be feeling right then. I was feeling uncertain and afraid, and I prayed that no one else could feel what was inside me.
“We’ll stop by your quarters first. I had Star print some coveralls for you that should fit. Wear something lightweight under them. The engine puts off a lot of heat even at idle and the engine room can get warm.” We stopped outside my door. “I’ll wait here for you while you change.”
Once my door closed, I stripped down to my underwear and slid into the grey coveralls. The legs and sleeves were a few centimeters too long and they would have fit me better around the waist if I weighed twenty kilos more. I stepped out into the passageway feeling like I was wearing a large bag.
Tobias smiled at me. “Star has problems judging size sometimes.” He cuffed the legs and sleeves and helped me adjust the belt so I didn’t feel quite so much like I was a ten year old playing dress-up. “I’ve worked on the algorithm she uses for size determination, but I can’t find the problem. She has a lot of problems.”
“Not true,” Star protested.
“And she’s getting argumentative.”
“Not. True.”
“I think she knows what’s coming at the end of this hop.”
“I do know what’s coming, Mr. Solonius. I know exactly what’s coming. Do you?”
“I certainly do, Star. I’m leaving RuComm behind and I have a job waiting for me on Meeker helping to restore old aircraft.” He turned toward me. “It doesn’t pay much, but I can be with Sandy every day.”
I smiled back at him. I didn’t have to be able to feel his emotions to know how happy he was.
Captain Kelang and a woman I assumed was Sandy were waiting for us in the passageway outside the engine room. Sandy was wearing the same grey coveralls as me, but had the twenty kilos needed to fill them out. I wouldn’t call her beautiful, but the eyes looking back at me were kind and intelligent when she shook my hand.
The Captain was not happy. He examined me c
losely while Sandy and Tobias helped attach a light and video sensor around my head and stick a comm pin on my ear. He fixed my left sleeve where the cuff was already starting to come down.
“So this is who we’re sending in because the two of you can’t do your jobs? Damn it, Williams, it’s a good thing the two of you are leaving at the end of this hop or I’d fire both of you right now.”
“Yes, sir,” Sandy replied. “I am ashamed, but I’m not going back in there. Not until our chaplain has finished what we came here to do.”
Captain Kelang turned to me. “Go in there, do what you need to do and get out. Leave if you see or hear or feel anything unusual, or if the comms drop out. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir. I’m not afraid,” I was lying, but I hoped that saying I wasn’t afraid would make it true. “I’m sure this is just some new trick Star is playing. I think maybe she’s stalling because she doesn’t want to go to Bodens Gate.” I smiled, trying to look confident.
“Is that true, Star?”
“It’s true that I don’t want to go to Bodens Gate, Captain, but I will go where I’m ordered.”
“We tested the air in the engine room again this morning. The remote reported that it’s fine.” Tobias told me.
“Your remotes, they can’t do any repairs themselves?” I asked.
“Yes, but–” He paused. “You’ll find three of them in there. None of them worked for very long after we closed the hatch.”
“Oh.” I am not afraid, I told myself. “And Star can’t see in there?”
Star answered, “I’m sorry, my sensors are offline. I can’t tell you what’s in there.”
I approached the hatch, suddenly aware of my heart pounding. I stepped through and heard it seal behind me, leaving me in darkness other than the thin beam from the light on my head.
“Ow!”
“Are you OK?” Tobias’s voice said in my ear.
“It’s dark and I almost tripped over one of your remotes.”
“You should start the exorcism rite.”
“I want to look around first.”
“Do you see the control station to your right with the yellow light?”
I could see the yellow glow but not much else. I walked toward it, the light on my head making long shadows.
“Lean over a little more so I can see the display. OK, slide the control on the right part of the display all the way up.”
The lights came on. “Wow.”
“What do you see? Move your head around.”
“It’s so big.”
“We’re not seeing anything odd on the monitor. What are you seeing?”
I heard Sandy answer. “I think she’s talking about the engine.”
“Yes! It’s huge.” The engine room must have been three hundred meters long, maybe four hundred wide and at least half that high. The port aft engine filled most of it.
I looked back at the display on the control console. “Mr. Solonius, what about this list on the left? Are those Star’s sensors?”
“Yes, those are all of her points of presence for that room. The telltales should all be green.”
“They’re not. Should I try to turn them on?”
“Sure, but you should be going through the exorcism. Sandy and I can come in and help you then.”
I tapped several of the sensors. “I can see you now, Ms. Holloman,” Star’s voice spoke in my ear. There was a rustling sound behind me, and before I could turn, something touched my leg. I jumped to the right I think at least ten meters, ending up on my back staring up at the ceiling and with Star telling me, “Your heartrate just passed two hundred, Ms. Holloman. Are you feeling all right?”
I turned my head and could see the remote that had touched me moving toward the access panel at the base of the engine. Tobias and Sandy were laughing and the Captain told me, “Ms. Holloman, next time you’re planning on screaming like that please warn us. That was really loud.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry. It wasn’t exactly planned.” I sat up. “Captain, I’m not feeling anything unusual in here at all. I can do the exorcism rite if you still want me to, but I don’t think it’s needed.”
Tobias answered. “I’ll come in there with you and see if we can get the engine started now.”
“No, you’re not.” Sandy answered him. “You are not going in there with her.”
I heard bits and pieces of the ensuing argument. Something about ‘only sixteen’ and ‘just a child’ and ‘don’t care, I know you think she’s cute’, until finally the Captain ended it.
“Ms. Holloman, do you think you can bring the engine online with Mr. Solonius and Ms. Williams watching over you on the video link?”
“I can try.” I stood up now that my heart rate was back down to double digits and walked back to the control console.
“Not from there, Ms. Holloman,” Sandy’s voice spoke gently in my ear, “you’ll need to go inside.”
“Inside?” The remote had opened the access hatch and rolled out of the way waiting for me. I paused at the entrance to the tunnel, peering in, uncertain. It was a meter wide and a meter high. I got down and crawled, feeling my heartrate starting to climb again. The remote trailed behind me.
“The remote will stay with you,” Sandy assured me. “You might need an extra pair of hands if there’s any physical damage.”
“OK,” I replied. “Is this really the only way into the engine?”
“It is without doing a cold shutdown.”
After twenty meters of featureless grey metal I emerged into a large room. It reminded me of spelunking with my dad, when we’d follow a narrow passageway and then emerge into a wondrous chamber, except now instead of flowing speleothems, I was seeing what looked like a frozen waterfall of metal alloy, darkened to bronzes and blues by heat. The shapes started somewhere two hundred meters above me, twisting and turning as they descended, combining into shapes I did not understand, but that looked purposeful. The massive tubes they formed disappeared through the deck plates I was standing on and the floor thrummed slowly, maybe forty beats per minute. It was so beautiful that I felt a chill go through me.
I turned my head around, trying to see all of it at once. “This is amazing. Whoever designed it, they were artists, not engineers. Do you see the way this section combines and then kind of flows into the next shape?” I held my hands in front of me, trying to trace the smooth curves in the air. “It’s wonderful!”
Tobias’s voice answered me. “I know, right? I never get tired of seeing it. And look above you at the injection plenum. No, up more and to the left. Do you see where it feeds into the regulator?”
“It’s so pretty.”
“What does she need to do first?” the Captain interrupted.
“Oh. Yes, sir. To your left, please, Ms. Holloman. Look at the display so I can see it.”
Tobias and Sandy walked me through the process of logging in to initialize the engine, reestablish the logical links and fix incorrect parameters. More than once the Captain asked who had shut the engine down and scrambled the configuration settings. Only the engineers and Star had access and they all denied doing it. When I looked at the access logs they didn’t show anything unusual; no one had accessed the engine controls in the last week. An hour later we were ready to bring the engine back to full power.
“One last thing you need to do before we bring the engine back to full power, Ms. Holloman.” Sandy said, her voice low.
“OK?”
There was a long pause before she said it. “You still need to do the exorcism, please.”
“Sure,” I replied. I opened my display pad and set it on the control console. I am their chaplain, I told myself. I can do this. “OK, please answer with ‘amen’ when I finish each section of the rite.”
I started to read the ancient words. “Trusting in the promise that whate
ver we ask the Father in Jesus’ name He will do, we now approach You Father with confidence in Our Lord’s words and in Your infinite power and love for us and for those who will live and work in this place, with the intercession of their guardian angels, with all the saints and angels of heaven, and Holy in the power of His blessed Name, to ask you Father to cleanse this place of all evil presences and protect it, and all those who shall live and work in this place from the infestation and harassment of the devil and his minions.”
“Amen,” they answered in my ear, and I continued through the text.
A few minutes later I concluded with, “Father, all of these things we ask in the most holy name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Thank you, Father, for hearing our prayer. We love You, we worship You, we thank You and we trust in You. Amen.”
I took a look around the chamber one last time and tapped the icon to start Wandering Star’s port aft engine. I could feel the rhythmic thrum starting to increase in tempo while the remote and I hurried out through the access tunnel. Sandy said I had ten minutes to get clear, but I didn’t want to waste any of it.
They were all waiting for me at the other end. I sat on the floor looking up at them while the remote secured the hatch behind me. “Did it work?” I asked.
“It seems to have,” Tobias answered. “I don’t feel anything unusual in here at all now.”
I smiled. I had faith the exorcism had worked. If there had been anything demonic in there to begin with it was gone now. I was more worried about the engine and whether it would reach full power or maybe just blow a giant hole out through the side of the ship.
“And the engine?” I asked.
The Captain helped me to my feet. “You did a fine job, Ms. Holloman. Thank you. Are you all right?”
“Sure.” I pulled the light and video sensor from my head, only then realizing that my hair was soaked in sweat, that all of me was soaked in sweat.
“And you didn’t feel anything unusual?”
“No, just a sense of awe.” I glanced behind me at the engine. I could feel its power pounding under my feet. “Your ship is so beautiful. If anything, I felt welcome there, like I was at peace, like I was at home.” I said the words and then realized how silly they sounded even though they were true. I giggled a little.
Wandering Soul Page 5
