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

by L. A. Johnson

  “Why?” Lyra asked. Nothing she could say could possibly be more important than Ian being held captive by an evil she-ghost. The problem was she didn’t know where he was being held.

  “Looks like they have a murderous ghost woman, if I’m reading it right,” Callista said, her eyebrows knitted in concern. “Or do you think that these people are deceiving me? I do not get the context of you people sometimes.”

  “Is the ghost woman there right now?” Lyra asked.

  Callista looked back down at her phone. “I think so. Hard to be sure. The text is kind of vague.”

  Before Callista was even done speaking, Lyra was out the door and running.

  11

  Astrid did her best to concentrate for the rest of the day, despite the steady stream of unwanted ghost visitors.

  Her ex-boyfriend centaur had been one thing. And Grayson was very, very annoying. But unfortunately, those two were only the beginning.

  She did her best to ignore the phantoms that would pop up in various places around her apartment while she had clients face-to-face on the computer. She would smile and nod to whoever she was chatting with, all the while catching ghosts out of the corner of her eye attempting to wreck her beautiful apartment. She didn’t know why they were doing it, but she assumed it was simply to annoy her. And it was working.

  The ghosts put their feet on the couches, smudged fingers on her aquarium, and pretended to drink all of her alcohol. At least she hoped they were pretending. If it was really all gone at the end of a day like today, then bigger problems were going to ensue.

  She signed off from her last client of the day and gave a sigh of relief. Finally.

  “Okay you idiots,” she said softly, “I don’t know who invited all of you to come and haunt me, but it’s not funny anymore.”

  Hey, she thought, at least they hadn’t been loud.

  Until now. Of course, the minute she thought that, one of them gave a shriek. She recognized him. As it turned out, the noisy one appeared to be the lawyer that she had hired to defend her at trial. What a turkey he had turned out to be, even with her magic boost he couldn’t rise to a level of competence.

  “Look, Percy,” she told the wide-eyed, geeky, bald, lawyer phantom. “I told you before, I overpaid you the first time and I owe you nothing now.” She snatched the rum bottle away from him and inspected it. It was still full, thank goodness.

  “Hey wait,” she said, “does that mean you’re dead now? When did that happen? My trial was only six months ago.” He didn’t answer, but at least he had stopped shrieking.

  She poured the rum into a glass and threw herself onto the couch. Grayson’s annoying words echoed in her head. The ones about weird things happening on the space station which was her new refuge, and her responsibility to help, which she summarily rejected on principle.

  Then again, she didn’t know how much longer she could deal with the ghosts of idiots past without losing it. She caught a scent just then.

  The very faint smell of residual magic. Burnt licorice and lilac. She frowned. How had she not noticed it before? Because she was working all day and because digital ghosts neither originate from magic nor practice it. So how is it that these guys smell like magic?

  Her ex-boyfriend centaur Fred materialized again. “How’s it hanging, Freddy? And why all the attitude? I mean, we left on good terms a long time ago. Why stir up the past?”

  Freddy picked up one of her shot glasses and looked at it, turning it over in his hand. Then he threw it at her wall and it shattered, sending shards of glass skittering across the floor.

  Astrid put her hands up reflexively. “Whoa, people. You’re not supposed to be able to do that.” Even when digital ghosts move things around mischievously, they aren’t really relocated, and they cannot physically interact with the environment around them. Not usually.

  “What in the blue blazes is going on here?” she asked the ghosts. The lawyer picked up a very expensive handmade vase she had gotten in the Virgo system.

  “Oh no you don’t,” she said. She crossed the room and tried to grab it from him, but he wouldn’t let go. They both tugged at it a moment. Finally, she elbowed him and got it back.

  “Got it!” she gloated.

  The lawyer bared his teeth and lunged at her. She was able to dodge to the side just in time. If these digital ghosts were going rogue with real magic then very, very bad things were possible.

  “That’s it!” Astrid screamed, summoning her magic. “Everybody out!” She took a deep breath and started to blow in the direction of her front door. All of the ghosts got caught up in the sudden magical wind and escorted against their will out the door. That done, she set up a quick perimeter in order to keep them out until she got back.

  Magic, at least magic strong enough to have a smell, can be tracked. This had gone quite far enough in her mind, and she was going to get to the bottom of it and nip it in the bud. She wanted her quiet apartment back. Plus, she knew for a fact that there wasn’t another person on the space station capable of tracking the magic and getting to the root of the problem.

  She sighed again and sat back down on her couch now that things were quieter. Well, she certainly wasn’t going to leave until she’d finished this glass of rum.

  Lyra led Callista and the others down the crowded halls of Celestica toward the communications hub.

  She couldn’t help but notice the extra spring in Callista’s step and her apparent joy in being asked to help. As much of a pain as the recent past had been with Callista shooting at her, summoning her to her office, and demanding her blood, it would all be worth it in the end if she were to end up helping with whatever new and crazy problems that were going to pop up on Celestica from now on.

  Also, every once in a while, she would look down at her hand and remember the pain and the worry she had gone through all day and was very grateful to have the use of it back. She flexed it and sighed in relief.

  She arrived at central communications just ahead of the rest of the group. A bunch of very freaked out looking nerds buzzed around outside the entrance.

  That’s probably not a good sign. They looked at her nervously and then at Callista with horror. Well, you called her here, people, what did you think was going to happen?

  Clearly Lyra had to figure out what was going on here and hope it led to information about Ian. She was running out of time.

  “Hey, boys?” Lyra asked them, breaking the awkward silence. “I have a question. Is there a crazy ginger ghost in there right now?” She pointed inside the communications room.

  The scared nerds nodded.

  Thank goodness, Lyra thought, now we’re getting somewhere. “Good. Okay. How long ago did whatever happen in there happen? And whatever disturbance is going on here, why didn’t you call Crash? Why call Callista?” She was irritated that it took so long to find out what was going on and who she had to kick in the groin when this whole thing was over. As usual, she suspected it was Crash.

  “We did call Crash,” one of the nerds said. He had a spiky haircut, jeans, and a Chemical Zombies t-shirt. “He came down here and talked to us. He said he wanted us to know that, in general, he doesn’t do ghosts. He said he went to get us help, but he never came back.”

  “Alright,” Lyra said, turning to Callista. “Something has to be done about Crash. You’re going to have to force him to finally hire extra security around here. Despite his catchphrase ‘I’m the only security this space station will ever need’, this continues to be an ongoing problem.”

  Callista nodded but didn’t say anything.

  “Oh yeah, one more question,” Lyra said. “I’m assuming that there are lots of ghosts inside the communication office?”

  The question was met with worried nods.

  “Are any of you wounded? At all. This is a very important question.”

  “Well, there’s Carl,” the first nerd said.

  “Okay,” Lyra said, “which one of you is Carl?”

  They s
hook their head at her. “Carl’s inside, but I don’t think you’re going to be able to help him.”

  Lyra was getting frustrated and wished that they would be a little more forthcoming with information. She was kind of in a hurry. “What do you mean I can’t help him? I’m a doctor.”

  “Carl didn’t make it.”

  “But he’s still in there?” Lyra asked, “With the ghosts? Why did you guys just leave him in there?”

  Lyra didn’t like it. She hadn’t seen any bodies in the new Fear Zone Universe footage tonight. Maybe this wasn’t the right location, maybe Ian wasn’t even in there at all. She had to be sure. She made a move for the door, but several of the nerds blocked her path.

  Lyra glanced at Callista, who finally spoke up. “I think it’s time for you guys to tell us what’s going on in there and why you called me.”

  “Look, my name is Ben. And I’m in charge now, these guys are mostly new,” the guy in the Chemical Zombies shirt said. “When that Scythe character came in here, he killed some of the communications workers, remember?”

  Lyra and Callista looked at him. They didn’t know.

  “I’m sorry, we didn’t know,” Lyra said.

  “That’s how I got promoted. But ever since then, all we’ve been trying to do is to get everything back to normal. It’s proved impossible. The minute we set one thing right in there, eight more problems pop up.”

  Lyra thought back to her wonky text and Grayson’s complaints. Could the communications problems and the ghosts be linked? “How many ghosts are in there?” Lyra asked.

  “A lot,” Ben said, “at first they were just a nuisance. After calling Crash a few times, we just let them be. We had a lot of stuff to fix. But then they got more aggressive and then there was Carl, and well, we’re not going back in there no matter what.”

  Lyra swallowed. “Can I peek? I mean, we have to have an idea of what we’re dealing with. And I’m sorry, but you guys are not exactly talking our ears off. I’m tired of playing twenty questions with you people.”

  She pushed them aside and grasped the handle.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” a voice from behind Lyra said, and it stopped her in her tracks because it wasn’t the nerds, and it wasn’t Callista.

  Lyra whirled behind her and it was Astrid, the blue sparkly octopus magic lady. Lyra hadn’t seen her since the end of the Scythe incident.

  “Astrid? What are you doing here? I’m trying to help Ian, you see, and in order to do that, I have to know more about what’s going on in there.”

  “Do not open that door,” Astrid said.

  Lyra smiled a very fake smile. “If you have information, then out with it, sister, I’ve had enough guessing games with the communications nerds here.”

  “Hello, Callista,” Astrid said.

  Callista nodded. “Yes, Astrid,” Callista said, “by all means, dazzle us.”

  “Well, as everybody knows,” Astrid began, “this space station was founded on magic.”

  The nerds perked up and looked confused at the same time. Callista took the news in stride like she already knew. Lyra remembered the research she had done to find Macro’s instruction manual. She had found information about some sort of magical spell at its founding, so she wasn’t fully surprised.

  “Good,” Astrid continued, “some of you already knew about the magic. At least that’ll make things easier. Look,” she told Lyra, “Celestica has a kick ass aura, I mean you can see it from space. Is any of this ringing a bell?”

  “Great. The space station has magic, what are you trying to tell us? What does that have to do with right now, because I’m kind of on a deadline here,” Lyra said.

  Astrid shook her head. “These digital ghosts of yours have a magical signature. How in stars name is that possible? Even I’ve never heard of that.”

  “You’re asking us?”

  “Well, I followed the magical scent of the ghosts here. And this area of the space station reeks by the way,” she said, fanning at her nose. “Can none of you smell that? In this case it’s wet dog and hummus. Very nasty.”

  Everybody shook their heads at Astrid.

  “Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes, “anyway, these ghosts that are haunting Celestica? Well, they’re multiplying rapidly. And they’re wielding magic.”

  “How can mindless phantoms that normally suck on cell phone charge suddenly become self-aware and magical?” Lyra asked.

  “Good question,” Astrid replied.

  Lyra decided she’d ask Astrid about the ghost wounds that were popping up in the hospital, maybe she could help. “Astrid, we’re having a problem in the hospital with wounds from these creatures.”

  “The ghosts are attacking people?” Astrid asked, eyes wide.

  “Yeah,” Lyra replied. “And the wounds, well they appear and then they disappear. Is that the magic?”

  Astrid sighed. “Oh crap. Magical wounds are the worst to heal. So draining. I can help one, maybe two tops and then I’ll have to recharge. How many patients do you have?”

  Lyra texted Vax and then looked back up at everybody. “I’ll tell you in a second.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Astrid said. “We have the digital ghosts and the magic. But they shouldn’t be connected. It’s unheard of. How are these ghosts able to even consider magic or being physical or being aggressive? And why does the significant magical signature lead back here?”

  “Oh no,” Lyra said.

  Everybody turned to look at her. “Hey Chemical Zombies guy,” she said. “You said everything was going wonky in that room. What about the electrical usage, was that normal?”

  “Off the charts. Astronomical,” he replied. “But with everything else going on, I figured it was just a surge and that we could deal with it later.”

  “Clever girl,” Astrid said. “They’re spawning in there. But something else happened in here, didn’t it?”

  “Scythe,” Callista said. “He plugged directly into this room. After he killed the communications workers. He interfaced with the entire space station through here.”

  “Ok,” Lyra conceded. “But how could you possibly know that?”

  Callista blinked at her. “I felt it. When it happened.”

  Everybody looked from Callista to Lyra. Lyra shrugged. “Don’t look at me, she’s a cyborg vampire. I guess she knows those types of things.”

  Everybody seemed to nod and accept it. It just went to show how everything had gone crazy lately on Celestica, that they would just accept that sort of thing without even a snarky comment. Wow. Lyra missed the snarky comments.

  “There’s still an electronic signature,” Callista continued, “a digital presence Scythe left behind that has not fully faded away. He was more digital intelligence than physical. He made a mark. And the digital ghosts are feeding on the electricity and the intelligence. They’ve become self-aware on some level.”

  “Oh boy,” said Astrid. “You throw in the magical presence on the ship and these guys are having more fun than they’ve ever had. With no conscience or anything to hold them back.”

  That thought scared Lyra more than the evil mad scientist A.I. guy. “Okay. Astrid smelled magic and Callista felt Scythe plug in and connect with the space station. Fine. Got it. Will somebody please explain to me why that means that I can’t walk right through this door,” Lyra pointed at the doorknob that was tantalizingly close, “and save my boyfriend from the jerk, supermodel ghost girl causing all of these problems?”

  It was Astrid’s turn to look confused. “What was that about a ghost woman and your boyfriend. I’ve been working too hard and I’m starting to suspect that everybody else is having more fun than me.”

  “There’s one ghost in particular, Astrid. A woman ghost. She looks more physical than the rest of them and she’s definitely in charge. What do you think, that the magic has just been unevenly distributed or something?”

  “I have no idea,” Astrid said.

  Lyra’s phone buzzed. She glance
d at the message. It was from Vax.

  “Uh-oh,” she said. She looked up and they were all staring at her again, so she shook her head and continued. “Vax says there are seventeen ghost-wound patients and the number is growing.”

  Lyra looked up at all of the worried faces. “Okay, we are running out of time here, people.” Ian, most of all, she thought.

  “Let’s see. Communications guys, I think you can take a break. We’ll take it from here.” They left in a hurry.

  “Astrid, can you please go the hospital and see how many patients you can help?”

  “I can try,” she answered, shaking her head, “but you really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into on the other side of that door.”

  “That’s the problem,” Lyra said. “I have to know.”

  “Okay,” Astrid answered. She crossed to Lyra and pressed a small, white bead into her hand.

  “What’s this?” Lyra asked.

  “Think of it as a last resort. A magic bean, if you will. Anybody can use them. They’re really powerful for a very, very short time.”

  “How do you use it?”

  “Just pop it in your mouth, think of what you want to do or be and voila. Magic.” She winked at her. Good luck. For what it’s worth, I always liked you.” She shimmied down the hallway in a flourish of tentacles.

  Nice vote of confidence, Lyra thought.

  “Wait, Astrid!” Lyra yelled.

  “Yes?” Astrid asked without waiting.

  “Who really sent you?”

  “I guess if you really want to, you can pin that one on Grayson,” she said and then was gone.

  That left just Lyra and Callista.

  “I’m going in,” Lyra said.

  “I know,” Callista said. “Anything I can do to help?”

  “Yes,” Lyra said with a hint of a smile. “Track down Grayson. The old coot is always holding out on us. And if I survive the next five minutes, I’m going to need his help.”

  “I’ll work on it. Let me know when you get out.”