Guardian Read online

  “I’m guessing your new biggest fear is drifting off into space and dying of starvation?”

  She gulped. “If that was you trying to be funny, you failed.”

  The nose end of the ship passed, leaving her on the last two hundred or so yards of the berth strut. She peered over the side at the moon, wondering if its gravity would pull her in to a meteoric landing. This experience took the old pirate ‘walking the plank’ thing to a degree of ridiculousness she’d never imagined possible. Aside from a ten-meter wide metal spar, only black void and stars surrounded her. The rasp of her gulping for air in the helmet plus a layer of fog forming in front of her face teased at panic. She held her breath for a few seconds in search for calm.

  At the distant end, a boxy outcropping stood among spindles of metal cable and magnetized clamps, retracted since the ship parked here didn’t reach all the way to the end. Capsule shaped tanks, arranged in a row on the right, framed some cabinets that held electronics. A rounded patch of glossy cyan stood out against the bland grey plastisteel.

  “Visual contact,” said Kirsten.

  “You guys see anything on the way out there?” asked Gene.

  “Nothing here, Gene,” said Ben.

  “I haven’t seen anything either.” Kirsten pulled back on the virtual stick to slow herself to a near stop, and tugged down on the left hand one to drop back on her magnetic boots.

  “Nice landing.” Ben clanked to a stop at her side.

  “I need a minute.” Kirsten focused on her breathing. She tried to put the idea of where she was out of her head. Having a solid grip on the ground with the energized boots helped. A faint glimmer of supernatural energy came and went, enough to sense as latent, but too weak to ascertain any sense of identity from it. This is too damn familiar. “Lindsey? We’re here. It’s going to be okay.”

  Kirsten tromped forward, grateful for a lack of gravity. If this metal noodle swayed, she’d lose it. Step by tentative step, she eased closer to where another Starstrider suit huddled behind a white cabinet with two doors.

  “Hey, Park. It’s Ben. You picked a shitty camping spot. Time to come inside.”

  “He’s here,” whispered a voice over comm. “He’s watching me. He’s out there.”

  Kirsten put her left hand on the electronics cabinet and pulled herself forward enough to grab Lindsey’s arm. “Hey. We’re here. You’re fine.”

  Having little more than a gold bubble to look at, Kirsten didn’t even try to dive into the girl’s mind.

  “W-where am I?” asked a weak voice.

  “Lindsey?” Kirsten tugged. “My name is Kirsten. I’m here to help you.”

  “Who are you?” The other woman stood out from behind her hiding place. “Oh… I don’t feel so good.”

  “Her vitals are all over the place,” said Doctor Nori. “What’s going on out there?”

  Lindsey grabbed at her gut and screamed.

  A glimmer of paranormal energy came out of nowhere. Kirsten stared at Lindsey for a half second before calling the lash and swiping it through her with a flick of the wrist. Her probing strike met a hint of solidity, a halfhearted slap to a weak entity. A smear of yellowish light melted out from the legs of the woman’s suit and shot off to the left, heading for the blue orb of Earth. A flash took the shape of a hand in a desperate, but futile, attempt to hold on to something. Lindsey collapsed on all fours, moaning over the comm. Kirsten swiveled about and whipped the energy tendril at her a second time for good measure, but the strike met no resistance.

  She dropped to one knee and pulled the woman upright. “Lindsey, are you okay? What happened?”

  “Felt like someone stabbed me in the lower back… Must be a cramp from squatting so long.”

  Kirsten grasped the other woman by the helmet, looking her in the eye as much as one could look someone in the eye past a visor of opaque gold. Her own faceless gold helmet stared back at her, creating an endless repeating tunnel of reflection. “Do you remember seeing anything unusual? A spirit? They said you reported seeing a man out here without a suit.”

  “I…” Lindsey slouched. “Maybe. I’m not crazy. They’re going to think I’m unfit and let me go.”

  “Well, they got my little trick on video too. Something was attacking you. I think it’s a ghost but I didn’t get much of a look at it.” Kirsten glanced at the Earth in the distance. A momentary daydream of a ghost (or astral traveler) zooming down with such speed they exploded into a massive splatter of ectoplasm on impact made her smile. “You need to get inside right away.”

  “Yeah. My waste recycler is screaming at me.” Lindsey lifted off her boots like a superhero, extended her arms out over her head, and flew off.

  “Gah, she makes it look easy.” Kirsten grumbled.

  “It is easy when you’ve been doing it for seven years.” Ben patted her on the shoulder. “For your first time out, you’re doing pretty good… and I’m not just saying that to build confidence.” He shook the tether between them. “I usually wind up flying rookie balloons on the first run.”

  “No offense, but the sooner I’m inside, the happier I’ll be.” Kirsten grabbed the ‘sticks’ again, and prodded herself up to a respectable speed with a few taps. Eagerness to reach safety got her going a little faster than she felt comfortable with, but Ben didn’t say a word other than to suggest she start decelerating as the giant airlock door came up fast.

  Whoever that was, they’re not very strong. If I’d taken a real swing, that might’ve obliterated them. That doesn’t make sense… if they’re that weak, how could they affect the living, or manifest?

  By the time Kirsten made it back, Lindsey had already gone inside. She waited with Ben for the airlock to cycle and rushed in as soon as the door parted. Filling the chamber with air took about a quarter the time of pumping it out. Only Doctor Whitaker remained from the support team when the inner airlock door opened, the rest evidently having gone with Lindsey.

  “Agent Wren, are you feeling okay?”

  Breathless, Kirsten nodded. “Yes, Doctor. Got a little scared for a moment there, but I’m okay now. I’d like to talk to Lindsey as soon as I can.”

  “Of course. She’s been taken to the infirmary. That part is out of my hands, but I will let Kimberly know to contact you as soon as it’s feasible to see her.”

  “Thank you.” Kirsten twisted to face Ben. “Can I get out of this thing now?”

  He extended his arm in an ‘after you’ gesture at the staircase. She trudged over to it and made the arduous climb up forty-five feet to the storage bay, and crossed it to the flat tram cart. Ben drove them down the enormous corridor, which she assumed ran the full width of the station, passing behind every ship berth. She removed her helmet on the ride, and soon after arriving back in the locker room, fiddled with the keypad on her left arm. The menu interface caught her off guard with its complexity. None of the options looked like anything related to opening it.

  “How do I get out of this thing?”

  “General > System Process > Suit > Disengage.”

  Geez, they really buried that. Guess it would be bad to open the thing by accident outside. She tapped through the sequence of menus, and then answered yes to two ‘are you sure?’ prompts. The disc at the center of her chest plate twisted and the metal claw around her torso popped open. She pulled her arms free and fell forward onto her hands before crawling the rest of the way out.

  “Now that was one of the most graceful things I’ve ever seen.” Ben chuckled.

  Kirsten rolled over on her back and shook her head at him, smirking that he’d already changed into normal clothes. She got up before he could offer a hand for the third time and leapt into her boots, trying to avoid the freezing floor seeping into her socks. He took care of stowing the suit she’d used.

  “Bet you can’t wait to go out again.” He winked.

  “The next time I ‘go out,’ it’s going to be in a much, much, much, bigger suit… like something the size of a shuttle.”
r />   Kirsten sat at a small table near a window, wondering why people bothered putting windows in space stations when the view only contained black and stars. Perhaps some found solace in staring at it… people had stargazed for as long as they existed. She sucked down the last tepid mouthful of plain, black coffee, cringing as it slid into her gut. The chicken/pasta thing she’d gotten from the company café tasted like warm raw OmniSoy with a dash of black pepper. Aside from having the consistency of pasta and noodles, she may as well have sucked it straight out of a packet.

  Footsteps to her right broke the relative quiet. She glanced up at a wild-eyed man somewhere in his forties with disheveled greying hair and a few days’ worth of beard. Silver stubble glinted on his cheek as his jaw shifted side to side. His demeanor made her tense; he’d either been electrocuted or he meant to attack her.

  “You that psionic girl?”

  Kirsten gripped her stunrod and lifted his surface thoughts. Jonah, the man they’d sent to retrieve Lindsey. He wanted help. She relaxed. “Yeah. Have a seat.”

  The man went from menacing to frightened, and sank into the facing chair. “I can’t stop seein’ it.”

  “Seeing what?”

  “Nope. Nope. Nope.” He shook his head.

  She let herself into his head. In his memory, she looked out of his eyes at the spar gliding by as he flew out to where Lindsey hid. A man jumped out of nowhere in front of him, clad in ordinary street clothes instead of an e-suit. Blood welled out of his mouth and nose, oozing between teeth opened in a menacing roar below hollow, empty eye-sockets. Jonah fixated on the man’s chest, a gaping cavity where the spine and surrounding tissue glistened in the sunlight behind a dangling clump of severed blood vessels. The figure grabbed at him, but Jonah felt nothing.

  The memory at that point blurred into a mad dash to get back inside.

  “I saw it in your thoughts, Jonah.” Kirsten kept eye contact. “He’s not out there anymore. I got a piece of him and he went flying back to Earth.”

  “Y-you’re a psionic, right?” asked Jonah.

  “Yes.”

  “Make me forget that.” He leaned forward; the tequila on his breath scorched her nose. “I want it out of my head.”

  She looked down. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  “I don’t care if it’s illegal. Please do it.”

  Kirsten took his hand. “It’s not that. I don’t have the ability to do that. Telepathy isn’t my strength.” Technically, mind blast is what permanently erases memories… telepathy overlays can eventually fail. I don’t trust myself to do that. “Umm. I don’t have any practice at deleting memories. I don’t want to do more damage in there. Erasing memories requires a judicial warrant. Without that, it’s considered highly unethical, but if the person is asking for it… I dunno how that works. How long are you up here?”

  Jonah shivered. “We do a six-three rotation. Six months up here, three months off on Earth. I… uhh, got four left.”

  “When you get back, you can contact Division 0 and ask about it if it’s still a problem. I understand it looked horrible, but it’s quite difficult for a spirit to hurt the living. Even on the off chance he comes back up here, the worst thing he can do is scare you into making a dangerous mistake.”

  Jonah wiped a finger back and forth under his nose, sniffling. His expression shifted past worry to disappointment to apprehension. “I dunno if I can go back out there. Keep seein’ that thing when’er I close my eyes.”

  “You’d be a lot better off with Doctor Whitaker or her staff here than me trying to make you forget that. I’ve never done a memory deletion before and the… talent that does it can be dangerous. If I made an error, I couldn’t fix it. I’m sorry.”

  “Mmm.” He coughed and stood. “S’okay. ‘Preciate you bein’ honest. You sure that thing’s gone?”

  Kirsten stared at him and sent a telepathic glimpse of the spirit exuding from Lindsey’s suit before zooming off toward Earth into his head. “I saw it go back to Earth. I have no idea how it got up here in the first place. Ghosts are usually tethered to the area of their death. Some can’t even leave the room or spot where they died. I’ve never even heard of one going from planet to planet. The only thing I can think of is that it hooked a ride inside a living person who came up here.”

  “So it can’t come back?” He perked up.

  “If my theory is correct, he’d have to possess someone else who was coming up here. Seems like a freak chance that he picked a person headed for this base… unless he’s got something against Gravion.”

  Jonah shrugged. “Dey’s not a bad place to work for. Aside from being stuck inside a giant lunch box for six months, they treat us pretty clear.”

  She smiled.

  A Class 1 doll in a white shirt and matching short skirt entered at the door nearer the food counter. Lines around the mouth and exposed machinery at the joints announced its artificial nature in no uncertain terms. It hurried over to Kirsten.

  “Agent Wren? The patient in bunk 23 is ready to talk with you.”

  “Thanks.” She looked at Jonah. “Sorry.”

  He scratched at his beard stubble. “Oh… If you’re sure that thing’s gone, I’ll try ta keep thinkin’ on what you said ‘bout it not bein’ able ta hurt us. Maybe I’ll get over it in a couple days. Do me a favor and tell the medics I really saw some shit and I’m not crazy? Maybe they’ll give me a day or two to deal with it.”

  “Done.” She smiled.

  The doll led her out of the cafeteria to a corridor that bore a noticeable upward turn at the distant ends. At least in the spinning wheel, gravity felt Earth-normal. After a walk of about a quarter mile past offices, quarters, and systems’ rooms, the doll ducked left into a tight hallway lined with doors on both sides. The air hung thick with the smells of sweating bodies, something minty, and floor cleaner. The fifth room on the right contained eight Comforgel slabs arranged in stacked pairs separated by curtains. Lindsey, in a clingy white and grey medical smock that covered from bicep to mid-thigh, lay on the lower bunk in the second set. Three plastic tubes connected from a beeping panel on the wall to a patch stuck on her left arm.

  Kirsten walked over. “How are you feeling?”

  “Tired. Better after eating and showering.” Lindsey rolled her head to the side to look at Kirsten. “You’re younger than I thought.”

  “I’m older than I look.”

  “Sixteen?”

  Kirsten laughed. “Twenty-two.”

  “Wow. Yes, I’m dodging the questions you wanna ask.” Lindsey sighed. “Might as well go for it. I remember seeing a man out there with no suit on. Someone like hollowed out his whole body and he was coughing out blood. He had no eyes either… Whatever he was, he didn’t say anything, but… I just knew he wanted to kill me.” She curled up on her side, facing Kirsten. “I saw that light thing on your hand. Did you kill it?”

  “What happened there? I didn’t sense anything around us and you doubled over.”

  “Felt like I got stabbed.” Lindsey grabbed her back an inch or so above her butt.

  Kirsten frowned. If a paranormal entity had manifested scratches, the medical team would have removed them already. The vision of the spirit from Jonah’s memory looked a lot like what black market organ harvesters leave behind… The doc said she’d had some kind of procedure. I wonder. “Is it okay if I touch you for a moment? I’m trying to get a read.”

  “Psionic stuff?”

  “Yeah.”

  Lindsey nodded. “Okay.”

  Kirsten let her hand rest on the spot the woman had indicated the pain. She concentrated, feeling a trace amount of energy, about the same as she’d sensed on people after séances or visiting haunted places.

  “What’s wrong? You look pissed.”

  “There’s a latent presence, but it’s too weak for me to do anything with. I can’t get a feel for who it is.”

  “What, like a dog tracking a scent or something?”

  “Basically. Lindsey… t
he doctor mentioned you had some kind of injury before. Do you mind talking about it? They wouldn’t give me any details.”

  “Uhh, sure.” She rolled flat again. “A couple months ago, I was out doing an inspection. Some kind of electrical issue killed the mooring cables on the starboard side, and all the ones on port pulled the ship in that direction. I got pinned against the station. Crushed and broke both of my legs and my left hip.”

  Kirsten cringed. “Oh, gah… That had to be excruciating. I can’t even imagine.”

  “I didn’t feel shit.” A somber smile played at her lips. “I passed straight out. Byron wasn’t so lucky. He died right away when his helmet crushed. Before you ask, no, that guy I saw was not Byron. They told me later I was stuck there for a few hours before they got the ship off me.”

  “That sounds awful. I’m sorry.”

  Lindsey swished her feet back and forth. “They put me back together without cybernetics at least. Guess the damage wasn’t that bad. Really, Gravion surprised me. You always hear about corporations screwing over their employees to save a credit or two, but they really pulled through for me. Ask most people up here, they’ll say Grav is cheap. The TP is like sandpaper and the food’s kinda shitty.”

  “Kinda?” Kirsten stuck her tongue out. “Bleh. How can you eat that?”

  “Hell, they haven’t even installed a relay for GlobeNet access up here. The food ain’t that bad. When it’s all there is…” Lindsey sat up cross-legged. “I could kill for an Omni-burger right about now. The IV nutrients aren’t doing it for me.” She stared at the glowing blue Comforgel pad while combing her fingers down her long, black hair. “At first, I thought I saw Byron out there sometimes. You know, they say people who spend long hours EVO start to go nuts. Seeing things that aren’t there, hearing voices and stuff. Even in two-person teams, the isolation sets in.”

  “I can see that. May I ask why you keep doing it if it bothers you?”

  Lindsey sniffled. “I really saw that thing. I’m not crazy.”