Part XV – Ghost Story, Part 2

This is Part XV of the serial space western The Ghosts of Blackmoon Rift. It is also available for download in RTF format here. Or click here for a complete listing of episodes.

Part XV – Ghost Story, Part 2

“A robot?” snapped Murphy at Crash, derailing Torr’s story. “You got some kind of problem with artificial life-forms?”

“What?” protested Crash. “Some of my best friends are artificial life-forms! I mean, look at me. Me and robots, we’re like cousins.”

“Why does he have to come back as a robot, then?”

“He’s got to be one of those android things. You kidnap a guy and you make a robot that looks just like him except it does what you want it to do, and you send it back to take his place. Two weeks later you hit a button and he blows up or starts listening to Barry Manilow or whatever.”

“An evil twin could do that too. The evil twin could take his place instead of the robot.”

“There is no evil twin!” shouted Egan Torr, with some exasperation. “He just comes back very unhappy! He’s not a robot. He’s just very morose. Jane notices that he barely smiles, and seems preoccupied all the time.”

“Does she test him for robot-ness?” asked Crash.

“No,” sighed Torr. “She goes to see one of her friends.”

“Jane had befriended, or been befriended, by a young scientist named Madeline Sykes. Madeline took the newlywed under her wing and became her unofficial sponsor in the colony, teaching her the lay of the land, the unwritten rules and the politicking. Madeline was a light-hearted young woman, but when Jane told her about Adrian she became quite serious.

“’Oh dear,’ she said. ‘That sounds like The Curse.’

“‘The Curse?’ asked Jane.

“Madeline had been hoping she would ask this. ‘The Curse of the Highrocks. Have you ever heard of Myron Highrock?’

“’No.’

“’Myron was the founding patriarch of the whole clan. He was one of the original colonists on board the Sphere. Even before the Sphere’s arrival he was known as a brilliant scientist. But when he awoke with all the other colonists, there was a problem. You see, out of all the millions of sleeping colonists there were a few that could never be revived after their long cryo-sleep. No one knows why. Although they carried no sign of sickness or injury, they simply kept on sleeping. Myron’s wife, a beautiful girl named Avera, was one of them.’

“’Well,’ Madeline continued, ‘Myron could not be comforted. He exhausted himself trying to revive his wife, but brilliant as he was, his attempts met with not the slightest bit of success. He became extremely depressed, and this once great man withdrew into a shell, not speaking to anyone, and living alone with his frozen, sleeping wife.’

‘Myron’s friends were very concerned about him. When the object designated Omega Zero (later known as the Entropy Device) was discovered, Myron’s friends persuaded him to relocate there and join the research effort on it. Myron took their advice, but he buried himself in his research here and eventually killed himself from exhaustion. Not before he did some good, though. Myron Highrock is credited with making more discoveries about the nature of the Engineers and the Entropy Device than generations of scientists since. It was he who first penetrated into the core, and he who first began to decipher their language.’

“‘What about the Curse?’ asked Jane.

“’The Curse supposedly afflicts every firstborn male in the Highrock family. They become preoccupied and depressed, then they withdraw from society and die before their time. Oh! but you poor girl. I didn’t mean it like that! Adrian’s just going through a tough spell. The first year of marriage is hard on people sometimes.’

“Madeline’s words did little to comfort Jane,” said Torr. “Now she grew deeply concerned for his well-being. More than anything, she wanted to know what he and his father were doing down in the core of the device. She resolved that one way or another, she would find out.

“Her chance came scant weeks later. Once more Adrian was summoned in the dead of night by his father to join him in the core. When Adrian left, Jane followed him and stowed away in the transport. She had prepared in advance for just this eventuality, and she had food and supplies.

“The journey seemed endless, crammed as she was into a dark baggage compartment. But at last, movement ceased, and after a long while she cautiously emerged.

“She wore a breather, for outside of the colony the atmosphere was not friendly to humans. The chamber in which she found herself was empty of people but well-lit, and a few passageways branched off from it. Jane chose the nearer one and headed down it. She followed a sequence of lit passages and chambers for a while, until she reached a place where the lights went no further. Convinced she had come to a dead end, she began to retrace her steps. In an effort to save time returning to the landing point, she attempted a brief shortcut through a darkened chamber towards distant lights.”

“Oh, I hate it when they do that!” exclaimed Miss Kitty. “Why can’t they ever stay on the path in these stories?”

Torr smiled. “The chamber was unexpectedly difficult to navigate,” he said, “and as Jane was attempting to do so, she lost sight of the lights. She turned and tried to go back the way she had come, but she must have missed it somehow for she saw no sign of the previous passage anywhere. There was no light to be seen apart from a small pocket lantern that she carried. Increasingly panicked, she stumbled on through the darkness.

“Jane tried retracing her steps several times, but she only had the sense of becoming more lost. She called out and flashed her lantern, but no one responded. All she heard were echoes in the endless labyrinth of the Entropy Device. Despairing, she decided she had no choice but to trust to luck. She picked a direction at random and set out unswervingly in that direction. However, she walked without much hope.

“It was quite a shock when she saw the light.

“Jane ran toward it, afraid that it would vanish or prove to be a mirage, but she soon found herself in a vast and brilliant space. At first her eyes could not take in what she was seeing, but as they adjusted she found that she was in a giant chamber lit by halogen lamps. The floor was translucent, and floating beneath her in an even larger space was something she had seen only on video: the event horizon of a black hole, one of the Device’s three singularities.

“Strange filaments or tentacles extended down into the light-sucking black hole, and Jane was mesmerized by their slow undulations. So it took her quite a while to notice that the chamber that she was in was not entirely empty.

“An object like a coffin lay in the middle of the room. As Jane approached it, she saw that it was not a coffin, but a cryo-sleep casket, one with a very old and antiquated design. Jane approached it, heart in her throat, praying that the casket was empty.”

“She’s gonna see the old man’s wife or her own face in it!” said Crash. “Definitely one of those. My money’s on her own face.” Miss Kitty shushed him.

“Jane peered into the glass top of the casket,” said Torr, “and saw the sleeping face of an ancient and wrinkled woman. She knelt down and checked the read-out on the side of the device. The name that she read there was Avera Highrock.”

Crash slapped his thigh triumphantly. Torr forged ahead. “Jane was appalled. Could this really be the wife of Myron Highrock, the famous scientist, still frozen after all these years? What was she doing here? As she pondered these questions, she looked down at the casket – and saw that the woman was staring back at her.

“Oh snap!” said Murphy.

“Jane froze. Before she could speak or cry out, a voice came out of the side of the case, a ragged whisper that hung in the air. It said, ‘Can you pierce the veil?’

“Jane turned to run – and flew smack into the arms of Adrian’s father.

“‘My dear Jane,’ he said, ‘whatever are you doing here?’ Jane was speechless. ‘I didn’t want you to see this, my dear. I didn’t want this for you at all. Come.’ And so saying, he grabbed her firmly by the shoulder and marched her back to the casket. When they stood beside it once more, the woman again opened her eyes and regarded them with a piercing blue stare. Once again a voice came from the side of the coffin, asking ‘Can you pierce the veil?’

“’Avera,’ said Adrian’s father, ‘this is my daughter-in-law, Jane. I’m afraid she’s found us out. What is to be done with her?’

“’Give her to us,’ breathed the woman in the casket. ‘This one is all used up. The daughter-in-law of the Highrocks shall take her place.’

“’No!’ shrieked Jane, struggling to break free of the steel grip. But Adrian’s father only pulled her closer. With one surprisingly strong arm he held her tight and with the other he produced a syringe, full of some clear liquid.

“’Very well,’ he said. ‘This won’t hurt at all, Jane. It will be just like falling asleep.’

“It was at that moment that Adrian walked up behind his father and decked him.”

“Alright!” Crash and Murphy exclaimed together.

“His father went reeling to the floor. Taking Jane in his arms, Adrian quickly ran from the chamber. By the time they reached the transports, Jane had gone into a state of shock. The events of the day had been too much for her. Her breathing was quick and shallow, her skin was pale, and she did not respond when he called her name.

“Adrian rushed them back to the colony. Their best medics tended Jane, but she remained unresponsive, and a high fever raged in her body. For two days and nights they fought to get the fever under control, and Adrian almost despaired of her life. But then, on the third night, her fever broke, and she began to sleep normally.

“In the morning, Adrian entered her room and caressed her forehead, gently waking her. There was a sharp intake of breath between her lips, and Jane opened her eyes and looked up at him.

“’Jane,’ said Adrian. ‘I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been so worried about you.’

“Jane smiled. And then she looked up at him and asked in a high, clear voice: ‘Can you pierce the veil?’”

“Duh-nuh nuh!” Crash sang dramatically. “Whew. Good one Professor. Wow. That was… kinda creepy, actually.”

“So what became of Jane?” asked Murphy.

“Well, you know, different people say different things,” said Torr. “Some say the family just kept her quiet. Some say they wound up putting her in the casket after all.”

“Is there a version where they lived happily ever after?” asked Crash.

“Uh, sure,” said Torr.

“Alright,” said Miss Kitty. “It’s way past time for us to be in our sleeping bags. Although I dare say Crash’ll be up for a while. That sure was a spooky bit of storytelling, Professor.” For a long moment, she stood looking at Egan Torr very strangely. Then she turned and began bedding down for the night.

Torr lay awake for a long time, staring up at the stars.

To Be Continued…

(Part XVI is here.)