The Ghosts of Kate-645

The sleek form of the Revival crept alongside the derelict research ship, as the pair orbited the planet Kate-645. Short flare bursts from the Revival's retro-thrusters illuminated the hull, lighting up the ship's name: Darwin II. Black burns from space junk and jetsam pockmarked the stone grey painted hull of the Darwin II, contrasting with the unembellished matte black of the military vessel.

*   *   *

It was the quiet period on board the Darwin II. Pierce lay on his bunk, looking at the photos of his wife and family blue-tacked to the bulkhead. Two weeks, he thought, and they'd start the two month journey home.

It was more than just family that caused Pierce to impatiently wait for the time to head home. It was Kate, as they called it.

Kate-645, named after some astronomer's wife, lover or daughter, was the planet they'd been studying from orbit for four weeks.

They were prospecting for new planets to colonise.

Kate was just a little smaller than Earth, and had no moons. The giant that was her closest neighbour possessed them all, where nineteen of them jostled for space in its orbit. Despite having a couple of small seas, Kate was uninhabited. There hadn't been any surprises there, just another ball of rock in a universe of desolate balls of gas and rock.

But photography and radar scans had picked up weird patterns on the surface and shallow crust of the planet. Weird because they didn't look random; as if they hadn't been created by natural processes. There were little spots here and there, 'gatherings of activity', Jane the chief scientist, had called them. There were other sites of 'activity' as well.

As they peered closer they realised they were cities. 'Gatherings of activity', with streets and buildings. Elsewhere there were farms, mines, with roads connecting everything.

No life.

It couldn't be humans; even if it was an unregistered colony, the atmosphere couldn't support humans. Too much oxygen.

Evidence suggested it hadn't been a dead world for long. Within that decade.
Pierce didn't like it; orbiting a dead alien world. He preferred the empty balls of rock.
The intercom chimed, notifying Pierce of a message.

He sighed, irritated slightly at being disturbed at that time in the ship's day. The irritation disappeared once he'd read the message. He was needed in the cargo bay, it didn't say way, or who had sent the message, but he supposed it must be urgent.

Jane, and another scientist, Danny was already there when he arrived. They were examining one of the radar instruments. Danny was looking on with slight bemusement; this wasn't his field of expertise.

"Did you send the message Pierce?" Jane asked, looking up from within the bowels of the scanner.

"No, I didn't. Didn't either of you?"

They both shook their heads.

"I guessed it must have been this thing," Jane said, tapping the scanner with a screwdriver "nothing else has been giving us problems."

"Danny, have you checked the most recent readings?" Pierce asked.

"No, but I'll just look now."

He went to the door, and pressed the open switch.

"Guys, the door's been locked down."

Pierce looked at Danny, then he was hit by a feeling of dread, as the whine of machinery reached his ears. He watched the same terror that he was feeling appear on Danny's face. Behind him, the cargo bay doors began to open, exposing the vulnerable belly of the ship to the Nothing.

At first, he struggled to breath. He didn't have time to panic before the vacuum sucked him out and his body exploded.

*  *  *

Tango-Delta felt the Revival connect with the Darwin II through the boots of her spacesuit. She and Tango-Bravo did last minute checks on each others suits.

"This is Bridge, Ready to go Tango?" the voice was slightly distorted by the intercom.

"Roger that Bridge, ready to go," replied Tango-Delta.

"Synchronising atmospheres… synchronisation complete - you've got air.

"Opening doors."

Tango-Delta and Tango-Bravo raised their rifles to their shoulders. Tango-Delta felt her pulse quicken with anticipation as the doors drew back. Behind the pair, flood-lamps switched on, flooding the room with light.

The corridor was empty.

Slowly, Tango-Bravo stepped through the doorway, followed by Tango-Delta.
"Douse lights," she whispered, and they were left with the light of their own torches and the dim penumbra of emergency lighting.

Through her helmet, she could hear the background hum of machinery. The corridor looked, and felt as if nothing had stirred there for a very long time.

Tango-Delta examined a plan of the ship on a hand-held display. "Let's check out life-support, and then maybe we can lose the helmets."

*  *  *

The captain addressed the remains of his crew; Laura the first mate, Christina the doctor, Shane the cook and the last remaining scientist; Lewis. The four of them looked dejected; the shock of the disappearance of almost half the crew was clearly evident on their faces.

"Without our full complement of scientists, we cannot continue to study Kate-645. But without Jens as well, I do not want to risk irreparably damaging the ship, and endangering our lives further. I have issued a distress call. I'm afraid we're going to have to sit tight until they arrive."

They all reacted differently, but none argued back; they knew there was little point. Christina, the closest to a friend on the voyage stiffened at the news. Lewis looked even more dejected than before. He looked to Laura, in case she had anything to add. She was quiet, as usual.

He noticed an angry bruised graze on her cheek.

"Laura, what did you do to your face?"

"I tripped on my way down some stairs," she replied, her hand gently touching it.

"Have you seen Christina about it?"

"Not yet."

"Christina, take a look at Laura. And, Laura go carefully about the ship okay?" he chided gently. He didn't want people getting sloppy and losing it whilst they waited.

The voyage had been aberrant from the outset. With the exception of himself, the crew were completely new to him. The previous first mate had been taken ill shortly before the voyage, and had to be replaced by a reserve. Then they'd discovered the alien planet. The captain was a rational man. But he struggled to stop the dead planet get the better of him. He was glad that he could only see it from the bridge.

*  *  *

Tango-Delta examined the life-support console, whilst Tango-Bravo watched the doorway to the engine room. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, they'd passed the crew quarters on the way. It looked as if someone had only just left it - empty mugs resting on magazines and cards strewn about on the table.

"No-one's touched this for months," Tango-Delta commented, studying the thin layer of dust on the finger-tips of her gloves. Tango-Bravo grunted in response.

"The ship's gone into conservation mode. Everything seems to be in working order, just suffering from a complete lack of maintenance.

"Air's safe, might feel a bit thick though," she gasped as she released the seal on her helmet.

Tango-Bravo echoed her as he followed suit, clipping the bulky thing on to his belt. Spacers were often loath to waste the finite source of air in their suits when an alternative was available.

"The engines seem pretty dormant," Tango-Bravo muttered, looking into the hulking cavern that served as the engine room-proper. He pointed his rifle into the engine room, the torch reflecting off machinery that whined and lamented at a lack of oil and attention. The beam fell on a series of dark patches splattered under a machine with two large counter-rotating fly-wheels.

Tango-Bravo approached it for a closer look.

"Looks like blood."

"No body though, or trail," Tango-Delta replied, "Let's have a look at the stores; see if anyone's been eating."

*  *  *

The captain sat in the bridge, his feet resting on the control console. The view from the main window was full of stars. He knew that one of them was Earth's sun. In the corner of his eye, Kate-645 eclipsed her own sun. The shadowy side of Kate loomed in the corner of his eye, the same way she niggled in the back of the captain's mind.

Kate's people had suffered their apocalypse, and evidence suggested that it hadn't been a natural phenomenon. The people had destroyed themselves, so utterly and completely, that little more than dry dust remained.

The captain felt that they were being stalked by the ghosts of Kate.

He heard footsteps behind him, and the hairs on his neck rose, and he gripped the chair, afraid to turn around.

"Lewis is sleeping. I gave him a little sedative to calm him down, it's not normal practice, but I don't think this is a normal situation," Christina said, turning to lean on the console, careful to avoid any controls. The captain let out a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright captain?" Christina asked, her voice suddenly concerned.

"Yeah. Fine. So Lewis is okay?"

"Physically, fine, but mentally - he's not holding up too well," she looked at him pointedly before continuing, "I don't know if he'll be able to stand the wait, but I'll keep an eye on him. It's really all I can do."

"Good, thanks. Did he say what he was doing in the engine room?"

"Yes he did - apparently he took a theory course in space-engineering. He wondered whether he could find his way around Darwin II's engines. That's how he found Jens. Has he been… taken care of?"

"Yes. What was left of him." I think Jens might be responsible for ejecting the other three; then crawled head first into the gravity drives to avoid retribution."

"But why? Jens didn’t seem one to go off the rails like that."

"I wonder too," the captain replied, staring at the grey mass that dominated one side of the ship.

*  *  *

Tango-Bravo tried to move the door to the ship's stores. Grimacing, he shook his head.

"It's jammed shut. There's no way we're going to get into it with out twenty-four hours and a laser-cutter."

Tango-Delta didn't reply and walked into the galley. There was dried blood everywhere. Slowly, she opened one of the fridges. She looked straight at Tango-Bravo.

"It's full of meat," she said.

*  *  *

The captain as restless. Had tried to read, but he found himself just skimming the lines and taking none of it in. He tried watching a film, but he didn't pay any attention to it.

He couldn't sleep.

When the Doctor's voice crackled on the intercom, he almost jumped for joy at the interruption.

"Captain? It's Christina."

"Captain here."

"It's Lewis, he's dead."

The captain stood still; his finger on the talk button. He didn't press it, or say anything.

We're all dying, he thought.

"Christina?" the captain asked.

The was no answer. He press the all-comms button.

"Christina? Laura? Shane? Respond if you can!"

Silence was the only reply.

What's killing us? He thought. Even though he couldn't see it, he could feel the malevolent enormity of Kate-645 through the skin of his ship.

He needed to find somewhere to hide.

He ran to the stores; he could be hiding for months. He'd need to eat. Maybe he could starve the ghost that hunted them.

The door to the stores led from the galley. Shane lay face down on a worktop, one of kitchen knives protruding from his back.

"Has Kate got to you yet?"

In the doorway to the stores, the captain turned around. Laura, the first mate, stood beside Shane's body with another knife in her hand.

Before Laura could move, the captain stepped into the stores and pulled the emergency door lock. Two tons of hydraulic pressure slammed the bulkhead door closed.

Inside, the captain sat with his head against the wall.

*  *  *

On the other side, Laura spoke into the intercom.

"You're the last one left captain."

"You killed them all?"

"Every one. Even Jens, though he was faster on the uptake than I had anticipated, he swung the first punch," subconsciously, her fingers stroked her bruised cheek.

"How much do you know about Kate, captain?"

"It's a dead world."

"But for how long?"

"I don't know. Jane said something about the last decade."

"Yes captain. Kate died approximately seven years and eight months ago. Humans killed Kate, captain."

The captain didn't reply.

"Nine fifty megaton thermonuclear charges, detonated in strategic positions around the globe. It annihilated all life within four minutes. The aliens appeared to be acutely affected by nuclear radiation."

"Why?"

"The survival of the fittest. Space is unknown territory to us. We can't take any risks."

"When I tell Earth about this, those responsible will pay!" shouted the captain, suddenly angry.

"Earth will know captain, eventually. But not from your mouth."

The captain laughed, "I'll tell Earth. All I have to do is wait for Earth to answer the distress call. What will you eat?"

"Oh captain, your rescuers are already on their way to save you. But they're going to the wrong planet. Goodbye, captain."

Then Laura ejected the air.

*  *  *

"I had to do it."

Both Tangos turned to face the voice. A woman stood there, thin and dishevelled. There was a knife in her hand.

"I needed to eat!" she moaned.

"Sister, we've been so long. We're so sorry," said Tango-Delta, as she moved to embrace the woman.

Tango-Bravo spoke to the Revival.

"Bridge, this is Tango. Tango-Charlie is alive. Returning shortly."