Page 1 of Ghost Ship Numenon

1

MADDIE

The hull creaked around me as though the rotted-out battleship would collapse at any second, and static hissed in my helmet like a thousand voices whispering over each other. Underfoot, the decking flexed and shuddered, the gravity shifting with every passing second. Most lights had burned out, the rest flickering constantly. The Numenon, once the pride of the mightiest fleet in the galaxy, was now a drifting deathtrap, and I’d walked right into it.

My grin couldn’t have been wider.

“First impressions: the ship is intact, though barely.” I kept my tone level as I stepped out of the airlock and into the ship proper. If I found what I was looking for, my logs might end up in the history books someday, and the last thing I wanted was students laughing at my lack of composure. “Aside from the damage I filmed on my way in, the artificial gravity is unreliable, which means core damage. Suit readouts say the atmosphere is breathable, so life support is still working.”

Saying that, I disengaged my helmet seal and peeled back the faceplate, taking a deep breath. To my surprise, theNumenon’sair was refreshing, cool and holding a faint floral smell. It almostmasked the lingering scent of death and decay, burned plastic and metal.

Even with those undertones, it made a welcome change from my suit’s own recycled air. Since the last time I’d docked theMagpieon a planet, her air tanks had gone stale. The air aboard theNumenonhad its own issues, but at least they were different. I left the seals open, trusting my suit to shut them if the pollution turned dangerous.

Slowly, carefully, I made my way deeper into the battleship, leaving theMagpieloosely tethered to a breach in theNumenon’shull. While I’d have preferred a more elegant entrance, this would do. I’d rather have docked with the hangar bay, but that entire deck was a twisted ruin. The external airlocks needed access codes I didn’t have, so instead I picked the tear in the hull near my target and came through an internal airlock.

Even ruined, it took my breath away. A broad concourse vanished into the gloom ahead of me, bordered on one side with businesses and a drop into darkness on the other. Turning my flashlight out across the gap, it just reached a matching concourse on the far side of the abyss.

“Given the ship’s condition, finding my way to Central Computing may prove a challenge,” I said, excitement bubbling up despite my best efforts. “Given how many systems are functional, though, there’s a chance the ship’s experimental AI, the Anima Numenon, is still active. So it looks I’m navigating my way through the galaxy’s most haunted ghost ship on Halloween. Who says wishes don’t come true?”

It’s fine, I can edit it to sound professional before publishing.I wondered if the authentic version might not work better, even if it made me sound like a kid at Christmas. I’d always loved Halloween, and this was a dream come true. Visiting hauntedhouses with my parents had been the highlight of each year of my childhood, that and helping them make their own.

Now here I was, advancing down theNumenon’spromenade. Looking for a centuries old battle computer with its own intelligence which would make my reputation if I got it home. And letting dead air fill my recording. I brought my attention back to the present with an effort.

“TheNumenon’slast confirmed sighting was two hundred and fifty-six years ago, at the Battle of Both Emperors. After its nearly impossible performance secured the crown for Dissana II, the heavily damagedNumenon?—”

Something clattered, metal striking metal, and I froze. Nothing should move here. Over two centuries, loose objects ought to have settled into a final resting place. I swung my flashlight toward the sound and saw nothing but a bleak, cavernous drop and the faint glint of the matching promenade beyond.

“I didnotimagine that,” I told myself firmly before remembering the recording. Struggling for some semblance of academic respectability. “Ah, I mean, I don’t think I’m alone. Possibly some vermin have survived? Or another explorer…oh, fuck.”

It can’t be him. No chance. What are the odds?I tried to push the thought from my mind, but as usual, once I’d thought of Kahdrex Vohr, it wasn’t easy tostopthinking about him. Not only was he frustratingly hot, like someone had scraped my subconscious and built a blue-skinned Adonis just for me, but the smug alien seemed set on destroying my business. In the past year, he’d snatched half a dozen finds out from under my nose and seemed to delight in frustrating me.

Of course, I’d gotten my revenge. Since he started poaching my finds, I’d done the same to him. We were roughly even now, but I knew he’d be eager to take the lead again.

Not this time, I promised myself. He can take other stuff if he wants, but the computer core is mine.

My hand dropped to the blaster pistol holstered on my belt. I’d never been comfortable with it, but I was less comfortable going up against a rival unarmed.

I kept walking along the promenade. The sheer size of the ship was awe-inspiring. I’d expected as much, but seeing a deck devoted to giving Imperial nobility a chance to show off to one another still shocked me. I turned in a slow circle, giving my camera a look at the shops beside the walkway. It looked more like a prosperous shopping district than a deck on a warship, despite the battle damage. Replace the broken windows and turn on the lights, and it would look like a shopping district I couldn’t afford to shop in.

Well, aside from the corpses.

Bodies lay scattered here and there, all wearing combat hardsuits ready for battle, though I saw no sign of what killed them. It lent a creepy atmosphere to the whole affair, and not the fun Halloween kind of creepy. Finishing my sweep, I approached the nearest body and looked through its transparent faceplate.

Long dead, the body gazed at me with hollow eye sockets, mouth open in a silent scream. I shuddered. Whatever killed him didn’t leave a pretty corpse. The alien looked mummified, which I hoped explained the way the mouth stretched open, frozen in a terrified scream. If Dad had managed a Halloween surprise half as monstrous looking, he’d have been smug for a year and the neighborhood kids would have been in therapy for at least as long.

Another faint noise caught me mid-laugh at that thought, and I spun around to stare into the blackness. To my surprise, I hoped it was Kahdrex. At least I knew how to react to him, though the unquiet dead would make for more desirable company.

2

KAHDREX

This ship wasmine. How dare a human claim it? Wander its halls without a care in the world when this was a graveyard to five thousand crew?

And yet there she was. Maddie Triden, salvage expert, or so the transponder on her ship said. Maddie Triden, the most annoying female in galactic history, would be more honest. For the last year, she’d been stealing my work, or trying to—I’d given as good as I’d gotten. It might have been less annoying if one of us had the upper hand, but neither of us could hold an advantage.

This will be our last contest.I swore it to myself and my ancestors. Whatever it took, I would end our rivalry here aboard theNumenon.If that meant killing the human, so be it—she’d had every opportunity to back down.

I crept closer to her, my hardsuit’s helmet display boosting the thin rays of light and letting me see her silhouette. That was the worst part of our rivalry, perhaps. She was the most desirable female I’d ever set my eyes on, and the way her pressure suit clung to her curves was positively indecent. Like all humans, she was short compared to me, but her perfectly proportioned figure and soft, smooth skin cried out to betouched. I wanted to tear her form-fitting silver suit off and feast my eyes on her nakedness.

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