Markus and Louise reached the bottom of the stairs, they had walked in silence on the way down. Louise turned to Markus and wished him luck, she was about to walk away when Markus grabbed her by the arm.
“Please, don't leave me on my own.” He said to her.
“It will be OK Markus, just get down to the lower decks, find the escape pods and get back up to Engineering.” She said to him, slightly startled
“I can't go on my own....... that's when they'll come. They live in the shadows, always watching, always listening.” He said, his voice shaky.
“Who does?” She asked.
“I don't know what they are, maybe they are the old crew. I dunno, but they are there, always there.” He replied.
Louise' thoughts turned back to the shadow she had seen earlier; in the hallway outside her room, how it had followed her, how it had filled her with fear like she had never experienced before.
“There's nothing here Markus, trust me. You are just experiencing Hyper-sleep side effects. Don't let it get to you.” She said, although she was aware of how easy that was to say. “Any problems just get to the nearest ComSpeak and shout for us.”
Markus rubbed his eyes, his head was hurting, splitting in fact.
“Look at it this way, the sooner we get this done the sooner you will be with your family again.” Louise said to him.
Markus paused, thinking over what she had just said to him.
“OK” He finally agreed, “I'll go, one hour and we are back upstairs.” He said, checking his watch.
“One hour.” Louise assured.
And with that the two of them went their separate ways, Markus took the next flight of stairs down while Louise ventured down the corridor Edward and herself had came up earlier.
As before, Louise walked through the maze-like corridors of the ship, trying her best to remember the way they had come earlier. Every step she took led her deeper into darkness, even though the lighting was better than it had been before, the place just seemed darker on her own. She stopped outside a small room, it didn't look familiar to her, clearly she was taking a different route back. She stepped inside, it was an office; not unlike the one she had been in with James and Markus. A small desk with terminal built in, some filing cabinets and a chair, on the walls were star charts, pictures of Earth and other planets as well. She noticed something on the floor under the desk and bent down to see what was there. Putting her hand under she pulled out a personal log – a diary, from one of the crew members.
“Oh my god!” She whispered to herself. “Finally something of importance.”
She sat herself down at the desk and looked at the log, it belonged to a crew member by the name of 'Sally Worthing', department and rank weren't mentioned. But still, it was a record from someone!
She switched it on, and watched how the log opened like a book; relieved to see no password was required. There was a small screen in front of her with a variety of entries, dating way back to October 19th 2089. Louise recognised that date, it was the date they had left Earths orbit. She pressed play and listened to the recording. Sally Worthing was young and excited, from what Louise could gather it was her first space flight. Sally kept talking about how fun it would be, the first ship to use the Light Drive, to travel further than anyone has before.
The next entries came sporadically, there was no pattern to when Sally was making these recordings. Up until leaving Saturns orbit Sally remained happy and excited, again chatting about the Light Drive, pioneering trips and how jealous her friends were!
The Light Drive was activated on January 9th 2090, Sally's recording of the same day wasn't as happy as previously. Although she wasn't specific, something had happened two hours in to Light speed travel that shook her up – she no longer seemed happy aboard the the ship.
“The Light Drive was activated two hours ago, as soon it was; the ship went weird. I can't put my finger on what it is, but something isn't right. I was talking to Jerry a few minutes ago, he'd noticed it too. Some of the crew are acting oddly, I've caught some of them just staring, it's as though they aren't in our reality; stuck in a dream. I know that sounds ridiculous but I don't know how else to describe it. Something is wrong and I don't like it.”
The next entry was dated three days later, January 12th.
“I'm to be joining the second night shift, this means I'll be in Hyper-sleep for six months and then woken. There will be about forty of us in total, just living our lives and monitoring the vital systems on-board the ship; while everyone else is sleeping. After another six months we go back in Stasis for the remainder of the journey and another team takes over. If I'm honest, I'll be glad to be away for a bit. The ship is getting worse, I still can't describe what's going on. Everything has started to feel surreal, I'm starting to wonder if this is all a dream. I'm always feeling anxious, I'm nervous talking to people. Even the ship itself feels different, distant in some way. I will record another entry when I awaken.”
Five minutes later another recording was made.
“Just found out Jerry will be joining me in Hyper-sleep, this makes me a bit happier; someone I know when I wake up!”
Louise tried to cast her mind back, was this woman familiar? She couldn't remember, the name, the voice; neither sounded like someone she knew or had known. It was as she was about to play the next recording, dated just six months after the last when she heard it. Breathing, right behind her, almost in her ear. She froze, unable to move or speak and completely at the mercy of whatever haunted her. The more she listened, the more it sounded less like breathing and more like whispering; as though someone was stood behind her gently whispering into her ear. Louise couldn't make out any words, it was gibberish but the same syllables over and over again. She could feel her heart beating through her chest, so hard in fact. she feared it may stop altogether. The room had taken on an odd atmosphere, the lighting seemed different; dimmer yet brighter. Sound seemed wrong, distant and disconnected and it had gotten cold; she could feel the tiny hairs standing up all over her body – was that fear, the cold or something else? She felt something run down her back, warm and wet, and still the same gibberish over and over again in her ear. Louise wanted to flee, more than anything else she wanted to run, away from here, back to safety. There was no safety on-board this ship though, it was dead; cold and dark. Something was in here with her, she was convinced of that; feeling an ice-cold hand on her shoulder confirmed it. And still she was unable to move or even scream for help, but then who would hear her? James and Markus were both on different decks, she was alone with whatever was in the room with her.
Her subconscious began to speak to her, the voice in her head desperately trying to talk over the gibberish whispering in her ear.
This isn't real, it's just hallucinations. No-one is here with you Louise!
She tried her best to listen, if this was a hallucination then is was more vivid and real than anything she had experienced so far. Edward was almost driven mad by what he had seen earlier in the corridor, she had put that down to hallucinations but to Edward it had been all too real. Just like now. The hand on her shoulder felt large, adult sized and was beginning to squeeze. Louise could feel the pain, it was very real; this was happening in reality not her mind. The whispering continued, it was as though it was starting to form into proper words. She was in terrors embrace, unable to move or scream all she could do was listen while the pain in her shoulder grew more intense.
“Louise.....”
With that she regained control of her body, hearing her own name spoken by whatever was behind her was enough to kick start herself into flight. She grabbed the Personal log and ran from the room, not daring to look behind her as she went. Running down a corridor, not even knowing if this was the way she had just come, the scream finally came. She stopped running and leant against a wall, tears streaming down her face and let herself slide to the floor where she sobbed uncontrollably. She remained that way for sometime until she finally calmed herself down.
“Jesus Christ!” She said to herself.
get a grip. I don't know what just happened but I need to find Edward and we need to get home.
Her heart was pounding.
That must have been a hallucination, there is no other explanation.
Taking a deep breath she looked about the corridor she was in, there was an open door a few meters down from where she sat.
But what if it was real?
Nothing looked familiar, but at the same time all these corridors and rooms looked the same. The ship was like a maze.
The ship is called the Numinous.
“The Numinous? The name of the ship? Where did that come from?” She said to herself, shock in her voice.
The Numinous? The ship was named after the mission..... the presence of a divinity? The signal was in fucking English!
Louise jumped to her feet, the sudden realisation distracting her from what had just happened.
The signal that was picked up from Alpha Centauri was in English, that's what they kept secret from the world and that's why we were sent out here to check it out!
She felt elated, an important memory had come back to her. For a moment she forgot about the fear and darkness that surrounded her mind.
She began to walk down the corridor towards the open door, already the feeling of elation had started to change to dread. Remembering something important had only very briefly masked the real problems at hand, her mystery assailant being one of them. Thoughts of what had happened in that room only a few minutes before sent a shiver down her spine, she was on edge again; watching the shadows as she passed and always listening. Maybe Markus was right, there is something waiting in the shadows.
She reached the door and slowly looked around the corner, she recognised the room immediately; it contained her Stasis chamber.
“Thank god for that.” She whispered to herself.
Edwards room is Lounge six, it's should be just down the corridor.
She made her way further down the corridor to Edwards room, as she went the lights overhead began to flicker, slowly at first then more erratically the closer she got. She noticed the pain in her head, spreading from the core of her brain like a disease; slowly eating her from the inside out. When almost outside Edwards room she had to stop, the pain in her head had become almost unbearable. Her hearing had become muffled and her vision was starting to fade, she felt as though she was about to pass out.
I need to see if Edward is here, can't stop now.
“Edward?” She called. “Edward, are you in there?”
Just calling his name sent waves off pain shooting from her head right down to her feet, she winced in pain. All around her, as her vision faded she could see the shadows moving; as though they were trying to form a shape, then separating, forming and separating. Each time something more and more vivid was created. She held her head and pressed on, the room was the same as it was before, nothing had changed. Edwards Stasis chamber was off, in fact. they all were.
“James must off turned them all off to conserve power.” She muttered to herself.
She stumbled over to Edwards chamber, the pain in her head had become intolerable; and looked through the glass. Edward was inside, Edward was dead and looked as though he had been for sometime.
“No” She said to his corpse. “Edward? What's happening?”
Her top lip felt warm and wet, she lifted her hand to her nose; she looked down at her hand to find it covered in blood, blood was pouring from her nose!
Panic again, that unshakeable fear that had been plaguing her since she woke in her Stasis chamber was all around her, she could almost reach out and touch it; feel it's darkness.
“Edward, please help me.” She begged to the corpse, tears running down her cheeks. “Please.”
Edwards eyes were open, looking at her; his body was trembling.
Witnessing Edwards corpse move and writhe in his Stasis chamber was almost too much, Louise felt her mind closing down, she couldn't cope with what she was seeing. All around her, from the corner of her eyes the shadows moved and swirled, twisted and turned. Blood ran down her chin and dripped to the floor, a pool had collected in her hand. Darkness began to close in.
And with that Louise collapsed to the floor.