The Dark Ship

by Phillip P. Peterson

  After what felt like an eternity, Jeff drifted off into a restless sleep.

  18.

  “Psst … wake up!”

  Jeff was ripped out of a deep sleep when Joanne shook his shoulder. It was pitch black, and Jeff could hear but not see his companion.

  “Turn on the light,” he husked, trying to shake himself awake.

  “No,” Joanne hissed. “There’s something outside!”

  Now Jeff was wide awake.

  What the hell?

  He sat up straight as a rod and hastily undid the zipper of his sleeping bag. “What do you mean?”

  “Come with me,” Joanne whispered and grabbed his hand.

  Rubbing his eyes, Jeff stood up and stumbled after her. He could just about see the window. On the other side, the corridor was illuminated by a pale light. Weak, but unmistakable. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know. It started a few minutes ago and it’s been gradually getting brighter. But I can’t see anything out there.”

  The light seemed to be coming from the left, from the center of the ship. Jeff pressed his cheek against the window but could only see a little way down the endless corridor. They should have set up a mirror on the other side of the pane. “I can’t see anything, either.”

  “It’s as if someone had switched on a lamp at the end of the corridor,” Joanne murmured. “What the hell could it be?”

  “We’ll have to go out,” Jeff said, and reached down for his gun. There was nothing he wanted to do less, but they had to find out what was going on outside.

  Jeff fumbled his way to the door, weapon in hand, and moved the equipment sled aside with his boot. As he pushed against the door, he noticed that his hands were shaking. He opened the door a crack and peered around the corner. Nothing. He had no choice but to go out. With a deft movement, he opened the door all the way before stepping out into the corridor. He thought he could hear his heartbeat echoing in the corridor. He peered into the darkness—and then he saw the creature.

  “Oh my god,” Joanne whispered from behind him. “What is that?”

  It was at least three hundred feet away from Jeff and Joanne and was standing motionless in the middle of the corridor. It had the rough outline of a human being and appeared to consist entirely of light—a ghostly light. Like an angel of death that had returned from the hereafter to get them. Jeff’s hand was clenched on the handle of his pistol. He knew instinctively that the weapon would be useless if the creature decided to attack. That must be the alien being that had killed Fields—and maybe Irons. Or it was one of them, because of course there might be more.

  Joanne clung to Jeff’s left arm. “It’s scary.”

  Jeff nodded. He had never seen anything like it. It reminded him of the ghosts that had haunted his imagination as a child—and which he’d dismissed as a figment of the imagination long ago. He had been sorely mistaken.

  He hardly dared to breathe. But the creature must have noticed them by now. He couldn’t recognize any details of the face, as the light was so dazzling, but the sinister being seemed to be looking directly at them. Jeff felt as if it was staring straight into his soul, plumbing the depths of his mind for the essence of his very being. He shook himself.

  “It’s just standing there,” Joanne whispered. “Is it looking at us?”

  “I … I think so,” Jeff stammered. His mouth was completely dry.

  The light radiated by the creature was cool, almost chemical. In fact it was probably less bright than it seemed, because it didn’t light up the corridor very far. Although the creature appeared to lack any clear contours, it cast wave-like white shadows across the wall. The pretty patterns had an almost hypnotic effect, and Jeff suddenly had trouble focusing.

  “I’m scared,” Joanne said, and Jeff flinched as she tightened her grip on his arm. They had to wake the others and prepare for an attack.

  Then, suddenly, the creature began to glide toward them.

  “Jeff!”

  Open-mouthed, Jeff noticed that the ghostly figure wasn’t moving its legs. It hovered just above the ground and floated toward them noiselessly.

  “Jeff!”

  “Yes,” he croaked. He was unable to move, as if the light alien had cast a spell that rooted him to the spot.

  Jeff began to tremble. The ghost had already moved around eighty feet in their direction and Jeff still couldn’t move. He wanted to run away, scream, pull his gun and shoot at the approaching danger, but he couldn’t. He had lost control of his body. Helplessly, he watched the creature approach, waited for it to reach him, to tear out his soul and ravage his body until it was left like the corpses of Fields and Major Irons.

  “Jeff!” Joanne’s voice was no more than a whimper.

  Jeff wanted to shut his eyes. He didn’t want to see this apparition coming toward him, but he was transfixed.

  Then, all of a sudden, the creature changed direction, floated to the side of the corridor, and disappeared down a narrow passageway. For a brief moment, a shaft of pale light gleamed from the opening, then it was pitch black again, as if nothing had happened.

  Gradually, the adrenalin leaked from his body, but Jeff was shivering as if he had a fever.

  “I thought it was coming to get us,” Joanne whispered. She was still clutching Jeff’s arm.

  “I thought so, too,” Jeff said. “I couldn’t move. It was like it had hypnotized me.” Tentatively, he took one step forward and one step back, to reassure himself that he had control over his limbs again.

  “When Fields called in the last time, he sounded as if he were scared to death,” Joanne said. “Now I understand why.”

  Jeff nodded. As his ability to think returned, his anxiety grew. He sensed they had no power over the aliens. Even if they could use their weapons against these creatures—which he doubted—that was of little use if they had the power to root them to the spot.

  “I don’t get it,” Joanne said.

  “What don’t you get?”

  “We’ve got deflective shields in our combat gear that are meant to protect us from psychic influences. How was it able to put us under a spell like that?”

  Jeff shook his head. “The deflectors protect us from telepathic or magneto-psychotic interventions, but they don’t work against visually produced hypnotic effects. And let’s be honest, maybe we were just paralyzed by fear.”

  “So how can we protect ourselves against them?”

  “No idea. And we still don’t know if our weapons would have any effect.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Then all we can do is run.”

  Joanne gave a desperate laugh. “And that worked really well just now.”

  Jeff took a deep breath. He was as despondent as Joanne, but wasn’t it his job as commander to spread a little optimism? But where was he supposed to get that from? Just one thing reassured him a little. “It didn’t come closer, and in the end it disappeared.”

  “It didn’t have the same scruples with Fields and Irons.”

  “Maybe it didn’t dare to come closer because there were two of us. If we always stick together as a group, maybe we stand a chance.

  “Hm,” Joanne was skeptical. “And what do we do now? Shall we wake the others?”

  Jeff thought feverishly. Maybe we should change location in case that … thing … returns with reinforcement. On the other hand, in this enormous and endlessly long corridor, they could be spotted from miles away. If the aliens wanted to find them, they would, no matter which room they hid in.

  Jeff looked at his watch and shook his head. He had to take the risk. “No,” he replied firmly. “We need to rest if we want to make progress tomorrow. We’ll go back in and block the door.”

  “And if that ghost simply floats through the closed door?”

  Jeff wouldn’t have been surprised to find the creature was capable of it, but he didn’t want to discuss it.

  “Your shift is almost over. Get some sleep. I’ll take over.”

&nbs
p; “I doubt I’ll be able to sleep.”

  “Then try, at least,” Jeff said, blocking the door again with the equipment sled.

  Joanne slipped into her sleeping bag and Jeff sat down on the table near the window. He tried to relax, but his heart was pounding louder than ten orbital canons. He was sure Joanne must be as wired as he was, but she didn’t make a sound. He couldn’t stop thinking about the light alien, what it was, what its intentions were … but ultimately all he could do was speculate. Every few minutes he pressed his face up against the window and squinted down the corridor, but the luminous apparition didn’t reappear.

  19.

  “Over there!” Owl yelled so loudly it made Jeff jump. He saw immediately what the radio operator was talking about. Well, they’d been expecting it for a while now.

  For three long days they had continued their monotonous journey along the corridor. On the first day, they had talked with each other about their mission, the ship, and above all about the light alien, but by the second day they had lapsed into almost complete silence. Since setting off from their second camp that morning, they had hardly exchanged a word, even during breaks. The mood in the group became gloomier the further their journey took them into the interior. Since the sinister encounter the night before last, they hadn’t seen another light alien. But Jeff couldn’t shake the feeling that they were all doomed.

  Now the first part of their journey to the center of the ship had come to an end. In front of them the long corridor ended in a huge wall.

  “Finally!” Finni groaned in relief. “I couldn’t manage another yard of that damned corridor.”

  Joanne was the first of the group to reach the end of the corridor. The smooth wall was made of the same black material as all the other walls on the ship. She turned around. Her face expressed relief and Jeff guessed she was feeling the same way as he was.

  “I thought the corridor ended in one of those huge cavitys we saw on the hologram,” Castle said, letting his pack slide to the ground. He pulled his water bottle out of the side pocket of his pack and took a big gulp. Beads of sweat trickled from his temples and down to his chin before dripping to the ground. No wonder, the temperature had risen again and now hovered at just under ninety degrees Fahrenheit.

  “There are only two narrower corridors leading off from this one,” Green said.

  Joanne pulled out her handheld and jabbed at the screen. “This corridor didn’t end directly at the cavity, but it must be close. Four to five hundred feet at most.”

  “Which way do we go?” Green asked, shining his flashlight down the corridor to the right.

  Joanne turned the handheld slightly and looked irritated. “I’m not quite sure. I can’t tell from the scale. I think the one on the left, but I could be wrong. The direction is roughly correct, in any case.”

  “What now, boss?” Mac asked.

  Jeff pursed his lips. McGuinness had been doing this for the last three days. With every comment and every question he addressed to Jeff, he added a sarcastic “boss,” which he stretched out like chewing gum.

  Jeff ignored him. He looked at his watch, but his heavy legs and waves of fatigue told him it was time to start looking for a place to set up camp. Still, it would be good if they could find the entrance to the cavity first, to get an idea what they would be up against the next day. They might also come across an empty room in the process, which they could use for shelter.

  “We’ll start searching for the cavity,” he decided.

  Joanne nodded. “Together, or shall we split up?”

  “I think we should split up,” Castle said in a tired voice. “It’ll be quicker that way.”

  Jeff looked down each of the dark corridors leading from the intersection. He wiped his hand over his dry mouth. On the one hand, they would be stronger together if they faced a threat. On the other, the cavity couldn’t be far away, and if they split up into groups and searched for half an hour, they were very likely to find it.

  “We’ll split up,” he decided. “Green, Finni, and I will take the left-hand corridor. Joanne, Castle, and Mac, you take the right-hand corridor. Owl and Shorty will keep watch here, and stay in contact with us.

  Shorty sighed with relief, leant against the wall and slid down to the floor. The long march had been tough on him. Jeff had noticed him repeatedly clutching at his lower back and wincing with pain. Because of his height, Shorty was prone to backaches. Green had survived the march surprisingly well, considering how ill he’d been a few days before.

  Owl took his handheld out of his pocket, placed it against the wall so that the rod antenna touched the metal, and sat down with his shipmate.

  Joanne switched on her flashlight and set off down the right-hand corridor with Castle and Mac. Castle didn’t look happy. He would have preferred to stay with Owl and Shorty, but he appeared to have some energy left, and Jeff saw no reason to leave him behind. He turned to Joanne’s group. “Listen up. Explore the corridor, but don’t go too far. We’ll meet back here in one hour, max.”

  Joanne nodded. “The cavity can’t be more than about five hundred feet from here.”

  “Yeah, we got that,” Castle said testily.

  “And see if you can find a room where we could camp for the night.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Joanne replied, and immediately set off down the corridor. As a lieutenant, she had the same rank as Castle, but there was no question that she would lead the group, even without Jeff placing her in charge. Castle shrugged and followed Joanne with a sigh. Mac snorted loudly, spat on the ground, then grudgingly followed the others.

  Jeff looked at Green and Finni. “Come on, we should get going too.” He led the way and shone his flashlight down the left-hand corridor. It was considerably narrower than the main, giant corridor they had left behind. It was only just wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The ceiling was no more than eight feet high. Jeff was surprised there wasn’t a larger corridor leading off from the main one. It would be impossible to carry any bulky items down here. Was that intentional? Or had modifications been made after the aliens had left the ship?

  Jeff wiped the sweat from his brow. So many questions which they would probably never be able to answer. He set off with as much determination as he could muster. Green and Finni followed him at a distance of a few feet. So far there were no further turnoffs.

  “I wonder what we’re going to find,” Finni said quietly.

  “What do you think?” Green asked.

  “If that hologram was correct, the cavity will be nearly a hundred and thirty miles long. And forty-five miles high. The whole of Lake Almazan could fit inside it.”

  “Lake what?”

  “One of the biggest lakes on Astana. I went on vacation there once.”

  “What are you trying to tell us?” Green asked.

  Finni sighed. “I mean this cavity will be fucking huge.”

  “If we ever find it,” Jeff responded, pointing to where the corridor forked about forty feet in front of them. One corridor went off at a ninety-degree angle to the left. The other at an acute angle to the right. “What direction is the cavity?” he asked.

  Green tapped around on his handheld. “I’d say right.”

  “This way, then,” Jeff said, and turned right. After just a few feet, the corridor ended in a big room. Jeff stepped through the open door and looked around.

  “Well, that’s something new,” Finni said.

  The room was about the size of a small gymnasium. On the opposite wall was a long, metal table. Behind it, shelves made out of some glassy material were attached to the wall. Above them was a brown symbol, vaguely reminiscent of a sun with stylized rays. The symbol was marbled, as if it had been made out of the finest mahogany.

  Along the other walls were seats, big enough for a human to sit in comfortably. Vase-like structures as tall as a person and made out of a transparent material were distributed at regular intervals around the room like bizarre works of art.

  “S
hit, looks like the Hilton on Ceres,” Finni said.

  Jeff nodded. He had never been to the asteroid, but the room really did look like a modern hotel lobby decorated by an abstract artist. Big open doorways led out of the hall on all four sides.

  “What now?” Green asked.

  Jeff looked around uncertainly. He had no idea which opening they needed to go through to reach the cavity. And they ran the risk of getting hopelessly lost. On the other hand, this was the first time they had come across a room of this kind—they might find something interesting. He walked over to the nearest wall and touched it with the antenna of his handheld.

  “Owl? Shorty? Can you hear me?”

  A few seconds passed, then Jeff heard Shorty’s basso voice. “We’re holding the fort. Everything OK?”

  “Yup, we’re fine. Have you heard anything from the others?”

  “Yeah, Joanne contacted us a few minutes ago. They were going down a long corridor that led directly toward the cavity. At least that’s what they thought.”

  “But?”

  “But after several hundred feet they came to a dead end. Now they’re in a parallel corridor.”

  “OK. Thanks. We’ve found an interesting room. A kind of lobby. I’ll get back to you.”

  “Maybe it’s some kind of transit area,” Finni murmured so quietly that Jeff could barely hear him.

  “What do you mean?” Green asked.

  Finni gazed around the unusual hall. “We know the cavity we’re looking for is huge; it’s no ordinary cavity. Maybe this is a kind of transit lounge leading to it.”

  Jeff was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Finni could be right. Access to the cavity may have been controlled by bulkheads. A bit like the gateway from the outer part of the ship to the central corridor. Maybe one of the passages led directly to the cavity. But which one?

  Jeff made his way to the first doorway on his right.

  “What are you going to do?” Green asked.

  “We’ll see where they all lead. At least the first few feet.”