Mostly Harmless

After they got back to the station, they shared their discovery with professor Aurussium. In a similar fashion to his student, he was ecstatic at the idea to work on transcribing the black box. So much so he confined himself in his room for the rest of the day.

Having nothing specific to undertake until dinner, Haul hosted a tour of the artefacts he and his master had collected and kept in their personal collection. Most were useless trinkets. And most didn't even work anymore. Despite that, Cassiopeia was touched by the passion the boy was describing each one.

"What about this one?" She pointed to a glass containing a chain, with multiple medallions attached to it.

"Ah, this?" Haul stretched his arm to snatch the cup on the top shelf. Displaying each medallion, he continued, "It's just some knickknack I found in the living quarters or a coordinator ship. I suspect this is nothing more than ornament, maybe to show military standing."

Words stuttered at the end, when the boy realized he may had made a mistake to share this information. "To be honest, we're not supposed to scavenge archeological items like these for ourselves. The professor said he'd turn a blind eye this time only, but could you not mention this to anyone else. Once you'll leave the planet?"

Cassiopeia flaunted her usual impish grin. "Let's make this our secret then."

"Deal," the student answered back with a solid but playful handshake.

The two humans spent the rest of the day discussing. About the uneventful life on Poseidus 3, the antics of the Ichtyophon academic, the various findings they had made here.

When it was time for dinner, Aurussium left his study to grab a bowl of soup, only to vacate back to his earlier labor. As he was exiting the living-room, he seemed to recall an information he required to share.

"By the way, Cassiopeia. While you were strolling outside, I've arranged an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow. You'll need to drive to the planet settlement, but Haul will be your chaperon. If you have a question, interrogate him, not me."

It did not take long before the redhead demanded some clarifications, to which Haul complied without debate. He apologized for the apparent disrespectful behavior of his teacher and dispensed the following knowledge.

Poseidus 3 was at the preliminary stage of colonization. The planet had been divided into sectors, each being attributed to a scavenging and research team, with the exception of one sector. This one had been assigned to be settled.

The federation was still unsure if they wanted to expend the resources to establish a self-sufficient colony. Therefore said settlement consisted of a picturesque town approaching ten thousand inhabitants.

It was nonetheless demanded to coordinate the efforts of scientists all over the globe. And helped in producing daily necessities such as clothes or furniture. It was easier and cheaper to import raw materials after all.

The inhabitants were divided into thirds. A third of them were military men; another third was composed of craftsmen and workers while the final third consisted of civilians. The families of the two first groups to be exact.

Now that was cleared up, Haul could share the town was a four hour ride away from the station. They would take the hovercraft instead of the bike, since the student wanted to exploit this opportunity to transport some of the scavenged items to the settlement warehouses. They were fit to appraise them at the station, but they would run out of storage space if they did nothing but hoard.

"While I'm at it, tonight you'll sleep in my room."

"Oh, I would not want to bother you."

"Nah, it's fine. The sofa's comfy enough. Moreover, we forced you to sleep on an uncomfortable bed last night. Take this as an apology."

Haul was clearly not going to take a no for an answer, so Cassiopeia took the offer.

Like the rest of the living quarters, the room could be described by no other word than compact. No space was wasted. A bed and a desk were arranged next to the wall, traversing the full length of the bedroom. A walkway on the right, the size of a corridor, represented the only available space to move.

Shelves were directly mounted on the walls, holding countless books about engineering, mechanic, weaponry or even fiction. Drawers under the frame of the bed allowed to secure even more area. The girl took a rapid glance, but stopped in embarrassment when she understood this served as his clothes cache.

She lied on the mattress. Its wobbliness was startling at first, but she soon understood it was likely filled with water. Or some kind of liquid gel. To rest on this product was an odd but cozy experience. Within a second, she was floating on top of a lake.

She could visualize the wind around her, creating ripples on the surface of the water every time it blew. The roof had transmuted into a tarnished murky sky, overspread with wooly clouds rushing through the atmosphere. She rolled her head to the side, admiring the chains of mountains, a cirque enclosing the lake, dominating the surrounding. It made her feel safe.

She was dreaming. Cassiopeia was getting better at noticing this fact. Or maybe not. It felt like she simply couldn't be deceived by her mind anymore.

As soon as she registered this, she wanted to explore her surroundings. The water felt real, but could still be walked on. Another sign this was far from reality. Unlike last time, she wanted to take control of the situation before… what was it exactly?

The girl had considered what she had witnessed the previous night and during the afternoon excursion. She had come to the conclusion something, someone had invaded her mind. Like a ghost in a machine. Or maybe it was just a very severe concussion. This investigation of her dream aimed to resolve this.

She stood up. Another bizarre occurrence, especially with how the water felt on her sole, but nothing more than dream wizardry. Armed with hasty eyes, she scoured her environment. Her prey was that very same lavender-like smoke she had witnessed both in her dream and when on the shipwreck.

It demanded some effort, but it became apparent as soon as she observed it. On the frontier between the sky and the mountain peaks, a thin layer of purple fumes could be noted. Cassiopeia felt her stomach and her heart shrink a little to this sight. A breath in, gathering some courage, she went on the offensive.

"Hey! I know you are watching me! Come out, I simply want to talk."

With a shiver down her spine, she flipped around, seeing herself. Or rather her shape, with the very same lavender smoke and gold dust as on the ship.

"What are you? What are you doing in my head?"

It stayed silent. The girl imagined for a second it wasn't easy to answer without a mouth. She was taken aback when voices echoed in her mind, "We found You… You would have died… We saved You…"

"Do not change the subject. What are you? Who are you?"

"Ripples… Echoes… Consciousness… A harmonic within the fabric of space itself. We cannot find a word in Your tongue to describe Us."

Every time it was speaking, waves on the surface of the lake would emit from the mimic. However the sound in her head was muffled, as if it was suppressed voluntarily. Indeed, compared to the earlier nightmare, the invasive presence appeared much meeker.

"Are You still afraid of us?" Each word gave the impression it had been stated by someone else. Like the creature could only communicate by imitating voices Cassiopeia heard in the past. In fact, she was recognizing Haul's and Aurussium's voices among the batch.

"Should I not be scared of you?"

"You were in pain. We saved You. We wish to bring peace."

Unsatisfied as their last answer felt, Cassiopeia had a gut feeling she would be unable to get clearer information.

"Alright. Tell me what you saved me from then."

"Death… Pain… We could not save the rest. We were too late."

The girl took this as an admission it had been responsible for the repairs the pod and the ship had undergone while drifting. She also took notice of the change in the ripples intensity on the surface of the waters. They had become more erratic, less harmonized, as if this thing had been startled or distressed by the confession it couldn't save all the passengers.

"Why did you do this? Why save me?"

"You were in pain. We wanted to alleviate Your kin's pain."

"My kin? Do you know anything about where I am from then?"

"Your ship was not the only one. When we arrived, we saw multiples. At that moment, there was an explosion, and we experienced the pain of Your people. Your shuttle was separated from the rest, but We managed to reach it at the last second."

Cassiopeia was shocked to listen to this testimony, but she could not allow her emotion to distract her from a potential lead. "I know what happened to me. Just tell me about the rest of the ships."

"We reached Them as well. It is likely we managed to spare some of them like with You."

"Stop speaking in riddles or possibilities. Do you know where they are? Yes or no!"

"No." The fog creature stopped speaking for a minute. The smoke and the particles within were whirling faster and faster, barely able to keep the humanoid shape. Could it be thinking? Was it searching for the right words? "We were fragmented. To save You, We needed to focus our energy towards that goal. But Your ship drifted away too fast, and… We got fragmented."

Repeating the last word in distant echoes, it sounded like this was a big deal for the creature.

"You – whatever you are – got separated into two? One with me and another part in my kind. I will assume you also meant to explain you cannot say where they are now."

"Correct. Our wish is to reunite with Ourselves. As such, We will help You track down Your people."

"Fine by me," agreed Cassiopeia, still on the defensive regarding this odd creature. "But you will have to promise you will abandon my body and my people's when everything is done"

"Should that be Your wish... Until then…"

The humanoid dust cloud collapsed, spreading a thin layer of lavender smock onto the lake. This did not stop the disembodied voices, who declared one final statement, "We will keep watching over You. Our initial goal – to soothe Your pain - has not changed."

Without giving Cassiopeia the opportunity to retort, the scenery's original serenity came back. The adrenaline rushing out of the girl's brains, her knee gave out. A splash resounded as her butt hit the surface of the water. "Possessed by a space ghost… who would've thought?"