Ghosts of Hyperspace

by johnnedwill

The silence in the bunkspace lasted for almost ten minutes after lights-out. It was the silence of young people trying to sleep: full of light breathing and determined quiet. Just before the ten-minute mark, Irina sat up in her bunk and turned on the light panel just above her head.

"I'm bored," she announced. She slipped out from under the covers and swung her legs out of the bunk.

Jackson - a senior classman and hence the cadet-in-charge - grunted from the bunk immediately above Irina. "And tomorrow you will be tired. Try to get some sleep." 

"I've tried."

"Then try harder."

Irina dropped to the deck; her bare feet making only the slightest of noises as they hit the plating. "We've been cooped up in here since they sounded jump stations. I'm bored. And I'm not tired. There is no way I could sleep, even if I wanted to!"

Jackson reached up and tapped on the control for the light panel set into the bunkspace above him. The pale, yellow light - usually just enough to read by under normal conditions - was bright enough to bring tears to his eyes. "Fine."

It was almost as if Jackson turning on his light was a signal to the other occupants of the bunkspace. Lights came on all around the room, casting pale pools of light that filled the alcoves and the spaces between them. Cadets stirred in their bunks, turning over to see what was going on. A babble of conversation swelled.

"Hey," Jackson called out. "Hey!" There was an unmistakeable tone of youthful authority to his voice, which cut through the growing hubbub. "Look - keep it down, for space's sake. If the proctors or the gunny hear us, we'll all be swabbing down the laser cannon come the next downshift." There was a moment of silence and then the conversations began again, but at a much reduced volume. Jackson nodded. "Much better."

"Maybe..." Irina grabbed the cover from her bed, and pulled it off with a flourish. Then she shook it out and spread it across the deck plating, as if throwing down a cloth for a picnic. "Everybody who wants to, come on down. The rest can stay in their bunks and get some sleep, or whatever." She glanced back over her shoulder at Jackson. "How about that?"

Jackson shrugged. "If it keeps the noise down." With a practiced ease, the senior classman dropped from his bunk and onto the blanket.

Irina gaped at him in shock. "You're joining us?"

He grinned and pulled his uniform jacket over his naked torso. "I'm supposed to keep an eye on you, aren't I? Make sure that you don't get up to any mischief. And I can do that better down here than I can," Jackson glanced back up to his bed, "from up there."

"Alright!" Irina clapped her hands in delight and looked around the bunkspace. "Who wants to join in?" There was a sudden burst of activity as the other cadets left their beds and came to join Irina and Jackson. Only three cadets remained in their bunks: Carla, Francis and Hikari. Irina looked questioningly at them. "Not joining us?"

Carla and Hikari shook their heads. "We've got a navigation exam tomorrow," Hikari explained. "We need the sleep."

"We'll keep it quiet," Jackson replied. He glared at the others sitting on the blanket. "Right?"

"Yes, Jackson," came the mumbled replies.

"What about you?" Jackson asked Francis.

"I'm fine in here," the second-year cadet replied. "But I'll join in."

"You're just lazy," Jackson remarked.

"That's what the gunny keeps telling me. I prefer to think of it as ... as finding the most efficient way to get something done."

Irina smoothed down her nightshirt and knelt on the blanket, joining the other cadets as they made themselves comfortable in the space between the bunks. They had been sleeping in the same bunkspace for the last three months, and had become familiar with each others' foibles. For most of them it was the first time they had been onboard a starship, but they had adjusted to the close quarters and the enforced intimacy of the bunkroom with the ease that only the young have. Nevertheless, Irina lay on her side, her legs drawn up close to her body so that she retained as much modesty as possible. "So," she began. "What do we want to do, now that we're down here?"

The cadets looked at each other. So far, everything had been done on impulse. Now that they had to think beyond the moment, they were at a loss as to what to do.

Jackson came to the rescue. "First time on a starship - how many of you?" Almost three-quarters of the cadets, including Irina, raised their hands. Jackson flashed them a toothy grin. "So you haven't heard of the hyperghosts?"

The cadets glanced at each other. "No."

Jackson chuckled. "I didn't think so. But you've all had the basic orientation lectures on the history of space travel?" This time, the senior cadet didn't wait for an answer. "So - you'll have heard about how dangerous it was? How starships would vanish into the warp and never come out again? Well, forget all the technical stuff that the instructors have told you. If you've been in space for any time, then you'll hear what happened to those ships - and their crews as well."

Raymond - a thin cadet whose ears stuck out from under his regulation haircut like airbrakes from a shuttle - bit his lip. "What happened to them?" he asked in a nervous whisper.

Jackson leaned forward. "The warp is a strange place. When the shields failed on their ships, everything dissolved into hyperspace. But not the crews' minds!" There was a shocked intake of breath from some of the younger cadets. "No. They were caught up in hyperspace. Still conscious. Still alive. And they want to go home. But to do that they need to find new bodies." Jackson let his words hang in the air.

"What a load of—" Francis began.

Jackson spun around to face the cadet in his bunk. "Really?" he asked with a note of challenge in his voice. "Is that what you think?"

Francis shifted uneasily. "You're just spinning stardust, you are." There was a slight tremor to his voice that belied his bravado.

"Do you know why they confine us to quarters during a jump?"

"S-so we don't get in the way of the crew?"

"Wrong!" Jackson barked. Francis recoiled. "It's because they don't want the hyperghosts to find us!"

"How do you know?" Francis crossed his arms and stared defiantly at the senior cadet.

Jackson grabbed hold of the rails around Francis' bunk pulled himself close to the younger cadet - so close that the two were almost eyeball-to-eyeball. "Are you calling me a liar?"

Francis was silent.

"I didn't think so." Jackson stood up and turned his attention back to the others around Irina's blanket.

"So you're saying you actually have seen these hyperghosts?"

Jackson rounded on Francis, his eyes blazing with an indignant fury. "You are calling me a liar!" He raised his right arm and clenched his fist.

"No!" Irina leapt from her place on the deck and threw herself at Jackson, grabbing his arm and pulling it down. "No," she repeated. Jackson looked down at her in astonishment. Irina glanced back and forth between the two cadets. "Of course he hasn't seen them," she said to Francis. "He's always been locked in - just like we are now." Then she turned to Jackson. "And we're going to go out there and see if we can find these hyperghosts."

"We?" Jackson was incredulous. "You can't be serious?"

Irina gave him a disarmingly sweet smile. "I am serious. You. Me Francis. And anyone else who wants to come."

Francis sat up in his bunk and raised his hands as if trying to ward off Irina. "Not me. I don't want to get mixed up in this." Jackson smirked at him.

Irina looked at the other cadets. "Alright. If Francis isn't coming, what about the rest of you?"

Glances were exchanged between the other cadets. Two of them - Chen and Peters - stood up. "Why not?" Chen said. Peters nodded eagerly.

"Ray?" Irina asked.

Raymond shook his head. "No way. I don't want to get into trouble with the gunny for breaking curfew."

"Fine." Irina grabbed her dressing gown from the locker at the end of her bunk, and pulled it over her nightshirt. "Let's go looking for these ghosts. Jackson?"

Jackson grabbed a pair of boots from under his bunk and started to pull them onto his bare feet. "Fine. I'll come along. May as well. At least if I get caught I can say I was keeping an eye on you."

The only sources of light in the passageway outside the bunkspace were the emergency lights set into the bulkheads. Although there was enough light to see by, Irina couldn't help wishing that she had brought a torch with her. The corridor was quiet, with only the ever-present hum of the ventilation system to relieve the silence.

Jackson was second in line, right behind Irina. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear: "It's not too late to turn back. Nobody will think any the worse if you do."

Irina shook her head. "Oh yes they will. Either we're going to find these ghosts of yours, or I'm going to show you up for the fibber you are." She glanced back at Jackson and grinned. "You can back out if you want."

"Like hell I will."

The four cadets moved quickly, cautiously down the passageway. They were alert for any noise or signs of movement. They had hardly gone more than fifty metres when Peters stopped and raised his hand for attention. "I think I hear something."

"What?"

"I'm not sure."

Irina took a step forward and listened, straining to hear whatever it was that Peters had heard. "What about the rest of you?"

"I think," Chen began, then stopped. She turned her head from side to side. "That way. I think." She pointed down the passageway, towards the next junction.

"Yes," Peters said. "That way."

The cadets kept on down the corridor, past dogged hatches, to the junction. "Now which way?" Irina asked.

"Over - There!" Chen pointed down the left-hand passage. "Did you see that?"

Four pairs of eyes turned to stare down the dimly-lit corridor, straining to see - what? A pale blue glow was just visible at the far end of the corridor, casting its light on the bulkheads. It was as if the metal walls were glowing. Strange noises - muffled mutterings and moans - accompanied the blue light. As the cadets watched, the light and the noise both grew in volume.

"I think," Peters whispered, horrified, "it's coming this way!"

He was right. The four cadets froze, hoping that whatever it was would turn off down a side-passage and go another way. It didn't. Now it was just a question of whose nerve would break first.

Peters cried out in terror and turned to run back to the safety of the bunkspace. Jackson reached out to grab him., "Don't be an idiot!" he began but Peters pushed past him, throwing both Jackson and Chen against the bulkheads in his desperation to get away.

The light stopped moving for the briefest of moments, then started again. This time it looked like there was some grim purpose driving it on. The noises grew louder, more distinct. It was obvious to the remaining cadets that Peters' sudden, noisy flight had attracted attention.

Irina reached back, fumbling for the reassuring touch of another human being. She felt something - Jackson's hand - and grabbed at it. The senior classman reached out to steady her. "I didn't know this was going to happen," he whispered.

"Nor did I." Irina held his hand tight. "I was sure you were having us on."

"I was."

The three remaining cadets held their ground. Whatever was coming, they were going to face it together.

At the end of the corridor, two shrouded figures emerged from the half-light, their features misshapen and indistinct. Each one carried a glowing rod, the source of the strange, blue light. "Aren't those - ?" Irina began. She was sure that she knew what - who the figures were.

"Radiation suits." Chen answered her question.

Jackson shook his head. "We. Are. In. So. Much. Trouble."

The lead figure stopped and pulled the hood of the radiation suit over her head, revealing an angry scowl. "What are you cadets doing out of your quarters? You are meant to be in lockdown?" Gunnery Officer Romanov held her glow-rod up to shine its light on the trio. "And you - Jackson! You should know better! You're a third-year cadet."

Jackson lowered his head in shame. "Yes, gunny. Sorry, gunny."

Romanov shook her head. "Well, I hope it was worth it. All of you are to report to EVA lock six, tomorrow, after second watch. Make sure you're suited up. I've got some cleaning for you to do."