Chasing Ghosts IV: The Way Out Is Through
26 Aug 2023Maul Montresor
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"All I've undergone I will keep on
Underneath it all we feel so small
The heavens fall but still we crawl"
"All I've undergone I will keep on
Underneath it all we feel so small
The heavens fall but still we crawl"
I'd made my way inside the prison ship through a maintenance hatch in one of the small ship docking bays dotted around the exterior. It was the closest entrance that I was able to locate that'd put me near the room I'd seen with the blinking light. Though, I'd have to find an elevator to get to the same level as it. The maintenance tunnel was narrow and dark, a claustrophobic's worst nightmare. After exiting the maintenance tunnel, I took a moment to observe my surroundings. Lights were flickering overhead, sparks flying from panels on the wall, and a constant distant droning sound coming from the ship. It felt like some sort of horror flick I'd seen before. Not entirely by coincidence, I suddenly felt compelled to remove my pistol from its holster before I began to go any further.
Traversing into the labyrinth of hallways, it grew progressively darker the further I went. The flashlight over my shoulder acted as my sole light source. Most of the rooms I'd passed by were sealed shut but the few that were open appeared to be stocked with various tools for working on ships. That made sense considering the proximity to the docking bay and maintenance tunnels. Stumbling around in the dark, my mind began to wander. What had happened here to cause such catastrophic damage? Not fifteen minutes ago, I'd witnessed an explosion that seemed to originate from within one of the cell blocks. The ship was dying and I had just willingly joined in on its demise. The damn thing could blow at any minute for all I knew. At least I'd go out with a bang.
I eventually found myself at a crossroads. A sign overhead was pointing to the left towards a medical bay and right towards the elevators. So I turned right, knowing I'd needed to go down quite a few levels before I'd be anywhere near the room with the blinking light. Luckily, the elevators were still powered. It was a small miracle considering the state of the rest of my surroundings, but that's where my luck ended. Judging by the red lights emitting from most of the buttons, it seemed the majority of the floors were locked behind a level of authorization that I did not possess, but there was still one floor I could choose. It'd likely put me much lower than I needed to go but what other choice did I have?
I clicked the button and the elevator began to move, rocking and jarring. The lights overhead buzzed and flickered with every rumble. I stood silent, gripping my pistol tightly in my right hand. The ever-constant drone of the ship seemed louder here for some reason. Maybe I was getting closer to what was causing the sound. I raised my left hand to my stomach. The feeling of nausea quickly set in. I hadn't eaten today, so I know it wasn't a bad burrito or anything. Could be nerves or maybe the elevator ride...I didn't even have enough time to come to a rational conclusion before I was doubled over in pain. I pushed my back into the elevator wall and slid down to the floor, it suddenly felt harder to breathe. It felt as if the air was being sucked out of the elevator. Damn it, I should have known better. I could have just stayed on my Krait and waited for backup. Why do I always have to stick my nose where it doesn't belong?
I closed my eyes and tried to focus on my breathing. The droning sounds grew louder and louder, becoming the only thing I could hear. I began to shout just to hear anything else at all but it was to no avail. There was nothing else, only the loud mechanical whirring and droning. I opened my eyes to see the light overhead flashing and flickering at such a fast rate that it seemed impossible. Was this the drugs causing me to hallucinate? I'd never reacted to them like this before. Besides, I hadn't taken anything since I was on the ship earlier and I know how much I can take. Was I finally losing my mind? In the midst of seeking answers to my own questions, everything went dark.
I wasn't certain how long I'd been unconscious or if I even had been in the first place. I felt groggy and attempting to open my eyes proved futile as a bright light prevented me from doing so. However, from what I could tell through one squinted eye, it appeared the elevator door had opened and the deafening sounds had finally ceased. Nothing that had just occurred made any sense to me but it felt real, so it had to be. I moved one of my legs and felt that I had kicked something. With my eyes still closed, I reached out to find that it was my pistol. I must have dropped it during the panic.
I forced myself up onto my knees as I holstered my gun and rubbed my eyes, blinking slowly, trying to focus on the room outside the elevator. The lights were bright but at least they were working, which was a big improvement from the upper levels of the ship that I was on earlier. Standing up proved difficult, my head was spinning. I made use of my surroundings and braced myself in the open doorway of the elevator. Once my eyes stopped shuttering and adjusting to the light levels, I was finally able to see. It looked as though I were in some sort of concourse, similar to what you'd see on most stations but notably larger. Still standing in the elevator doorway, I glanced to my right and noticed an area that used to house a handful of escape pods. None were there of course. Relief washed over me, knowing that at the very least some people made it out of here alive...hopefully.
I stumbled out of the elevator, dragging my feet. It was odd being in such an empty concourse. Abandoned shops and stalls everywhere. It felt, I don't know...eerie?
"Hello?..." I called out, my hand resting on my holstered gun.
I didn't receive any answer. Not like I was expecting one anyhow. I checked a few of the storefronts only to find they'd been vandalized, much like the rest of the ship. That's when I noticed a terminal located just outside the entrance of the bar. Odd that it was the only one here but I thought nothing of it and decided to approach, hoping to find some sort of map or anything that I could download for reference to navigate this hell hole. As I scrolled through the menus on the terminal, I decided to quickly check my datapad for any response from Julie but then remembered that I wasn't going to receive anything in here, not until I found a way to power down those scramblers anyway.
"Nothing..." I muttered, kicking the bottom of the terminal.
What the hell was I doing here, anyway? Playing hero?
"Yeah fuckin right," I said, aloud to myself.
I'd just held an innocent man and his child at gunpoint for information a mere few days ago. A hero, I ain't.
My patience was beginning to run thin. In a last-ditch effort, I jacked my datapad into the terminal. The suite of programs on my pad did their job and gave me access to some of the security programs on the terminal. Still, no authorization access that I could copy and use to spoof elsewhere but at least this specific terminal saw me as a member of security. Accessing the security logs, I tried to see if I could find any footage that'd explain what happened here.
Their whole system was different than anything I'd seen before. No footage but something about holograms. There was a file tagged for the concourse, so I tapped it.
What happened next was something I'd never seen before in my life. I was in shock and utter disbelief at the scarily accurate holo reprojection of dozens upon dozens of people around me. This must have been some sort of experimental tech. There were slight blips that occasionally occurred in the projections that I'd only seen occur in Telepresence tech. Beyond that, I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking at. I looked around to see that all the projections were frozen in time. Not a single movement. I glanced once more at the terminal and saw a "play" button on the screen. Pressing it caused the projections to come to life.
I spun around watching as all these projections wandered around the concourse. It was odd, seeing so many faces laughing and full of joy but not a single sound was coming from the projections. I walked around admiring the details of them and eventually approached a man drinking at the bar. He was drinking, but there was no glass in his hand. Whatever this tech was, it appeared to only track people, not the objects they interact with. Looking closely at the man, he seemed to have been a security guard. The name on his badge read "Ross Lyle" and judging by the smile on his face, he looked to have been having a pleasant discussion with the bartender. Which made me take notice of the bartender, wiping the surface of the bar, with no rag in hand. As I stepped forward to observe the bartender, I quickly jumped back. Looking down, it appeared that I'd stepped on some broken shards of glass on the floor. Suddenly, they both turned to look at the entrance to the bar at the same time. I looked but there was nothing there. However, the panic on Ross and the bartender's faces told another story. Ross looked scared, shaking even. He turned slowly to set his glass on the bar but missed. His hand never reached the bar. I looked down at the floor and saw that the shards of glass that I had just stepped on must have been from him dropping his glass. Then just like that, the projections were gone.
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the bar. I was in complete disbelief at what I'd just experienced. This tech must have been something they were developing on this ship. Which led me to wonder, what else could they have been working on? This wasn't the time for wandering thoughts, I needed to investigate further.
Back outside the bar, I approached the terminal to restart the playback of the holos and watched closely this time. It wasn't long until every holo in the concourse began to react to something that I still couldn't see. Some scattered for the elevators while others ran towards a hallway at one end of the concourse. The sign overhead inferred that the hallway led to a "Dome of Relaxation". Likely one of the glass domes I'd seen from the outside of the ship. The holo playback stopped abruptly, just as it did before, leaving me without much of a lead. I chose to investigate the dome, at the very least it may have another exit that would lead me further into the ship.
As I entered the dome, I was met with the sight of lush green foliage contrasting the inky black of space on the other side of the glass. A smile crept across my face. It reminded me of being a kid again, home on the hab ring of the station. I used to lay under the trees just outside the employee housing complex we lived in and watch the stars. I'd often fall asleep though, as it was usually after curfew when I went out. I was at risk of being caught but never cared. 'All they can do is take me back to my parents', I thought, never realizing what trouble my parents would get into for not 'keeping an eye' on me. As if it were their fault that I'd snuck out. Like I said before, I'm a terrible son.
Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I brought my attention back to the present. There wasn't another exit here as I'd hoped, just trees and bushes. As I approached a lone bench, I came upon a trail of what looked to be dried blood in the grass leading towards a couple of bushes at the base of the large tree in the center of the dome. I removed my pistol from its holster and approached slowly. Cautiously, I reached my left arm out and then quickly pushed some of the foliage aside. I was expecting a body but was confused to find three severed fingers scattered on the ground and a bloody ID badge. I holstered my pistol again and picked up the badge, wiping the blood off with my jacket sleeve.
"Ross Lyle..."
The badge looked to belong to the security guard I had seen in the bar earlier. Surely the digits on the ground were his as well. Suddenly, I had a pit in my stomach and a feeling of dread washed over me. I had the feeling that I was going to die on this ship. Throughout my life, I'd had more brushes with death than I'd like to recall but this one felt different somehow...but I wasn't leaving until I found those survivors.
I pocketed the badge and headed back through the concourse to the elevators. With Ross' badge, I could now access most of the places on the ship. Inside the elevator, I noticed a directory on the wall that I hadn't noticed before. There was a level called "Transport Hall". Hoping that would lead me closer to the room with the blinking light, I pressed the button.
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