Dreams. Life is full of them.

Conscious and unconscious.

You can have a dream for your life or you can dream you're a millionaire asleep at night in bed.

In this darkness, there were no dreams.

Only nightmares.

First there was only darkness, no vision.

But sound was all around him.

Loud, intrusive sounds. Hurt his ears. He tried to shield his ears from the sound but he couldn't. He couldn't feel his arms.

What was going on?

The area in which he stood shaked and shuddered. More explosions followed.

The darkness faded away slightly to give him sight to a bright, shining whiteness that encompassed his whole vision.

Through the noise he thought he could hear a voice. But not from anywhere but inside his ear.

The white blur in his vision finally subsided, he could roughly see the surrounding area.

A hatch was opening in front of his face, a glass hatch rising upwards.

He stumbled forward and landed hard on the white tiled floor.

His face felt the cold, solidity of the tiles against him.

The sensation made him tingle.

Where am I? he thought.

'Steady yourself soldier, can you hear me Christopher?' repeated the distinctly female voice in his ear.

He started to push himself up when he slipped, his hand was in a pool of blood.

What in god's name...

'This is Dr Janice Polito of the starship Von Braun, you are recovering from surgery and you will be unable to remember the events

of the last few weeks...'

He pulled himself up by the cryo-stasis chamber. He felt very dizzy and light-headed.

He remembered coming to the Von Braun. He'd been here for five months, it'd be hard to forget. The doctor, he remembered her.

She had given him a physio check when he first got here, she had been pretty nice but where the hell am I?

He remembered the flight. The first ever flight in which a ship had gone faster than the speed if light and something happened then...but what???

He touched his face.

Oh my god, where are my eyes?

All he felt were hard metal rims and glass lenses.

He could see...but what was he seeing from?

The voice continued in his ear, he decided to try and listen. '...very,very wrong. Some kind of force has taken over this ship...'

Force? What can she mean? Why is there blood on the floor? Where the hell is everyone? His mind raced in every direction at once, unable to assimilate

all the information he was receiving.

He finally understood what it was he was hearing, an e-mail.

The system of audio e-mails had been utilised for a long time, he was just getting a direct feed into an earpiece

At least I've still got my mind, I thought I was hearing things, mused the solider privately.

'...that's why you volunteered for the experimental cyber implants. Use them wisely, they may just save your life...'

He glanced at the suit he was wearing, a jump-suit made from a weird material which had metal, of some kind, at places covering small wires that arced

all the way around his body.

He still knew how to function with it and utilise it accordingly. Being in the Navy meant you were all that you could be.

He'd been top of the class in hacking and loads of tech stuff during his three year stint at the several space

colonies, these were designed to teach soldiers every benefit useful for space. And cyber-space.

He saw his nanite container and his Data unit in special holsters on the suit. The latter contained all audio information such as crew logs and e-mails. That'll definitely come in handy, he thought.

'..get to deck 4. Can you remember that? Deck 4.'

Sure I can remember. I've just got to get the hell outta here. Something's not right.

He passed the cyro-chambers and looked out of the bay window. He could see space, vast and black. Tiny pinpoints of light were the lives of the stars blazing millions of miles away and had been for millions of years. But he wasn't looking at that.

A satellite dish which was venting steam and wobbling on it's manifold extension. That was what provided the earlier internal ruptures and explosions by the looks

of things.

The doctor was once again speaking into his ear; 'You'll have to get out of there. The adjacent satellite dish was damaged due to...'

He turned back to see it. The dish wasn't there.

It was hurtling through space toward the window.

'MOVE!!!', screamed the womans voice.

Christopher dived to his right, just shy of a power conduit that exploded when the dish impacted.

He braced himself to be sucked into space, any shield no matter how strong could not withstand such a blast.

He blinked. The screen in front of him had not shattered. It remained.

'You have to get out the whole sub-section is unstable, get out NOW!!'

Christopher kicked into action, a fallen vent covered the ladder up out of the small room he inhabited.

He turned as he moved to it and caught something out of the corner of his eye. He froze, he could see a leg sticking out from behind a maintenance port

behind him. He moved slowly forward. The leg was attached to a body, thankfully, but a dead body.

He walked over and prodded the body, it lay still. He saw a heavy wrench lying next to the man.

I hope you don't mind my using this, thought the soldier and picked up the wrench.

He walked to the vent and smashed it with one, mighty, over-head swing. He cleared away the debris and started to climb.

He heard a sharp noise behind him.

It sounded like cracking.

At the top of the ladder he turned back to hazard a glance.

The glass window had one small crack in it.

Christopher sighed and started to climb.

The noise started again, he turned back. There were four cracks and they were growing. Slowly spreading like the branches of a tree.

His blood ran cold.

Oh shit.

He spun and ran toward the door at the end of the small gangway. It opened automatically.

He frantically searched for an exit. The floor beneath him and the ceiling above started to tremor.

He faced more windows. All had at least one crack, many had more. A power coupling exploded around the corner, raining the floor with it's twisted metal innards.

He ran towards another door. It didn't open.

The crackle in his ear signified an incoming transmission but it was receiving lots of interference.

'fzzzzk......whole deck......fzzzzzzkk.....get out....fzzzzzzzk......depressurising rapidly..fzzzzzzzzk.'

Shit. Why wont this damn door open?

He pounded on it. It refused to budge. He slammed the wrench against it in mute fury.

He glanced back, the windows were now laced with the tenuously, strained cracks. He also saw a green light just inside a small compartment in the wall.

He looked. It was a button, which he pressed. The door effortlessly slid open.

You idiot, thought the soldier, you know better than that. Don't fucking panic.

Mentally shaking himself he ran inside the room.

Another door. This time with a keycard slot.

Cryogenics access carded needed repeated the distorted image on the mini-monitor,

Damn, he muttered. No hacking terminal on keycard locks. There was a table nearby, he rummaged through the drawers.

Nothing. Where could it be.....the body back at the chambers?

He didn't want to go back there. He saw the card under the table and thanked God for his luck. He slid the card home to hear a satisfied beep.

Another room, this time with a keypad. A body lay in the corner. He touched it's hand, it was a man. He was ice cold.

What is going on here?

He tried to focus and turned back to the keypad. Finally, something I can use my skills on.

He turned to the keypad and started to remove the panel. The diodes behind just had to be by-passed in the proper way. With the help of some nanites.

He reached for his nanite container on his belt. The digital display read: ' 0 nanites '.

He closed his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to count to ten.

'FUCK!!' he cried.

His anger built up, once again he went to pounding the door with the wrench. Regardless of the fact it was a titanium alloy and the

strongest metal there is.

He calmed down and tried to take a deep breath. He checked the body in the corner hurriedly, it was face down which was just as well.

Christopher felt like throwing up. He found a personal log on the guy.

He slipped it into his own, copying the data before discarding it. He pressed re-run.

The mans voice, by the name of Amanpour, now spoke to him and him alone from beyond the grave.

'I've been ordered to change the code to cryo access A again, as if I have nothing better to do. I think I'll change it to 45100...'

He ignored the rest and started typing in the code. But in his mind he silently realised that no-one had heard him say that and he would

be the only one to hear it...ever.

The door once again, beeped happily and slid silently open.

He entered a small room with a battered door. This one is automatic, he thought and ran towards it.

He ran straight into the unmoving door. It made a negative, grumbling beeping sound which indicated it's state of disrepair.
Suddenly he could hear something, a voice...XERXES.

The ship's operations computer. It was still on-line.

The male, monotone voice crackled over the damaged intercom system.

It informed anyone who was listening, quite calmly, that the whole cryogenics section was depressurising and they'd have to get behind an air-locked door,

all of which were automatically closing in 20 seconds.

'PLEASE GATHER ALL PERSONAL BELONGING'S AND LEAVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.'

That wasn't all he heard.

He heard a scream. Coming from behind the door.

There was a window to the right of the broken door, he heard another scream through the glass.

The glass itself was damaged also, which made it hard to see through but what he did see froze him in place and made him forget about

getting to any airlock.

The scream came from a female, a human female. The only reason I add human, is because what chased her down the corridor was NOT.

At least I hoped it wasn't. A gunshot rang out and there was a cry of pain, it sounded like the girl. I've got to get through there!

Where have I to go?

'10 SECONDS UNTIL SECURITY LOCKDOWN AND DEPRESSURISIATION,' reminded XERXES.

In answer to his question, a gas rupture behind him blew off a ventilation shaft cover.

9...

Looks like the only way, and with that he got down on his hands and knees and crawled into the shaft.

Hot steam and the strong, sickly smell of gas was spouted into his face from the several holes that appeared in the ship's pipes.

8...

Tears ran down his face from his irritated eyes, blurring his vision further, which complicated matters more.

His knees were scraped and raw. His head spun and he almost couldn't stop himself vomiting. The smell overwhelmed him.

7...

He couldn't see in front of him. It was like a dense fog. His hands slid on the slick surface on which he crawled. There was spillage's everywhere.

6...

Then he crawled on thin air. He plummeted down and smashed headfirst into a bench as gravity kicked in with a punch. He'd fallen down a shaft opening and was now in the airlock room.

5...

The airlock was closed before him. There was an energy recharging station next to the bench but apart from that and the door, it was empty.

He noticed a blackened patch on the wall. It was the switch for opening the door. Because it was an airlock it was powered by it's own cell.

That cell lay lifeless and dull on the floor.

'That power cell is dead', said the Doctor in his ear. 'Recharge that cell before you're sucked into space...'

4...

Christopher started to get up, a wave of pain and nausea swept over him.

'MOVE IT SOLDIER!'

That was an order, he could do it. He scrambled to the cell and picked it up.

He pushed the battery into the recharger and it filled up with a luminous yellow bar, indicating the electrical charge level.

3...

Christopher dived towards the cell-holder and slammed it home. The lights came back online and it beeped pleasantly.

I never thought I'd love that repetitive sound so much, he thought to himself.

The door started to slide open, painfully slowly.

2...

Perspiration ran into his eyes, blinding him and he could taste the salt of it in his mouth.

He pushed the doors more but to no avail. They were only open a few inches.

A few inches more.

1....

And more.

Just enough...

He started to squeeze through with the doors still opening when they suddenly stopped.

'EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN PROCEDURE OF AIRLOCKS WILL NOW COMMENCE. DECK DEPRESSURISING. PLEASE WAIT...'

He managed through but suddenly started to get sucked back. The area had depressurised already.

He clamped his hand onto a nearby railing and held on for grim death. The air whipped his face as it was sucked dry by the merciless vacuum.

Debris of all sorts whipped against his face and body and he shut his eyes and began to pray.

His fingers were beginning to slip. The doors started their journey back to closure.

He tried to breathe but as he inhaled the oxygen was ripped from his throat, leaving him gasping and choking on emptiness.

Panic finally rode paramount in his brain, enjoying it's power it started to shut down every active brain cell.

He took a hand off the railing to his throat. He tried to scream, further removing himself of much-needed O2.

The seconds seemed to last an eternity. The doors grinded closed, with their defining clank and the air became still.

'EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN PROCEDURE COMPLETE. XERXES WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIANCE CAUSED BY THIS
MINOR INCIDENT.'

Christopher was no longer suspended horizontally and collapsed onto the floor.

He gulped in the air, aware of the fact the doctor was speaking to him but he couldn't hear her.

He wept with tears of sheer frustration and joy. He finally stopped hyperventilating and sat for a second to calm his exploded and severely fragmented

nerves.

Inhale...exhale. Thank god to be alive.

He stood up and looked around him. He stood in a room with two doors leading off. A ton of debris pulled in from the depressurisation gave an extra layer to the ground.

And a few crates, he opened one; nothing, the other; 20 nanites. He placed the small unit into his own and watched the little display count them in. He then threw away the empty container.

He looked at his data log, he hadn't heard what the doctor had said. He selected the most recent e-mail and replayed it as he proceeded out of the room.

The door opened in front of him to reveal another body, rapidly becoming a unsurprising sight.

The doctor was explaining to him about his new experimental implants and their benefits. It seems he can use something called cybernetic modules to

upgrade his 'rig' and learn new things. He was shocked to discover he could master psionic skills by putting these things into a PSI upgrade unit.

He could learn the skills in an instant, whatever he purchased was either enhanced or integrated into his existing skills.

This surprised him and, in a way, terrified him. He thought he'd heard about these things before but they were banned or something after the

'SHODAN' incident on Citadel station 44 years ago. That was a major fiasco, Tri-Optimum had suffered dearly at the results of that scandal until

their scientists came up for the idea of the Von Braun.

He was still wary of these devices, they were inside his head and couldn't be removed as easily as they were put there.

He searched the corpse, finding 10 nanites, then moved on. There was not time for mourning, not now. There would be time later for that...if there was a

later that is.

He stepped into the next room, there stood four upgrade units. The other door of the air lock room led here too.

One on each face of a square pillar, he started to go round looking at them. He almost tripped over the body that lay before him. Upon searching it he found 4 cyber modules, he looked for somewhere to add them to. He found a small round piece of hardware with a display that read 4.

The doc had uploaded 4 modules to him. She sent them as she found them, trapped in data loops in the main OS.

He added the four of the dead man's to his own. He studied the units;

PSI - To gain some skills in utilising the dormant sectors of the mind. Needed a Psi-Amp to operate. Which I don't have, he thought.

Weapons - To gain the ability to use standard firearms, which he already had from one of his years of study with military core and advanced energy weapons. There was also another option was was encrypted and could not be accessed. Hmmmm, what the hell could that be?

Tech - Gain more technical skills; hacking, weapon maintenance, repair and other such like things. He already had a basic knowledge of all.

But research skill, he didn't have that. That could be handy in dealing with whatever it is that we're dealing with.

Stats - Your vital stats, upgrade your strength or endurance and many other aspects of physiology and mental capabilities.

Too much to consider at once, not just this: Everything.

What was that twisted disfigured mass of flesh that he saw chase that woman?

Why are they here? Where the hell is the elevator? And how do I find the doc? And what fucking upgrade choices do I make?

His mind reeled, this was all too much. He stood leaning against the pillar for a second, he placed the wrench down on the ground.

In front of him there was a lift to the level above, more doors from what he could see. Also sounds emanating from the room directly above him.

He decided to check out the other two doors that led into this room. He walked towards the door, it opened halfway and jammed. He could see a person in the room. Well, what was left of a person. They had a head and shoulders and arms but the middle was a mess of red blood and ropes of flesh and guts.

Christopher had tried not to, but he had to let it out. He vomited at the side of the door. His guts heaved empty, he truly felt like shit now.

He went to the other door, this led to a different room. A crate and a personal log were all that was in that room. There had been a computer console but it had exploded leaving a gaping hole into the next room.

He picked up the log and played it. He studied the details of the log, the picture of the face. A man, named Grassi. It seems he was a medical scientist.

Not surprising on the Medical Science deck. He was talking about a soldier to be put in stasis, he also mentioned illegal implants and the SHODAN incident on Citadel.

Could that be me he's talking about? This is getting way too freaky, he thought to himself.

There was some nanites in the crate but nothing else. He didn't want to but knew he had to, he climbed through the hole in the wall into the next room.

It seems there was an explosion caused by the one next door, but unfortunately this poor sap had been standing right next to a power point.

There was a med hypo lying among the scattered debris and blood. He reached down carefully and swiped it up.

There was a locked cupboard with a keypad access in the corner.

He neared it, there were no indications of a code about and he'd searched the bodies thoroughly. He removed the pad and studied the diodes behind it.

Doesn't look to difficult to execute, considered the soldier. He added some nanites into the equation and played around with the diodes linking them up separately via the nanites.

After a few seconds he had by-passed the relatively easy system of diode switching, this was easy compared to Security sub-systems. They were monitored by a separate, unhackable security system and if the person failed to hack the sub-system, all shit broke loose. Alarms would go off and the camera's would go nuts.

Not to mention the buggy security droids.

The display on the removed keypad read; ACCESS GRANTED.

He smiled, some things were still okay.

The door opened and a few items were on some shelves. A speed booster and a powered strength enhancing unit, Brawnboost(tm).

I'll use anything, he thought and shoved them into his available pouches and pockets.

He exited via the hole again and made for the elevator, picking up the wrench on the way.

I don't know what the hell is up there but it wont mess with me, grunted the soldier. I'm not in the mood.

The elevator halted with a jolt on the next level.

Same idea, pillar in the middle and four doors to either side and then at the other end, a corridor led to a keycard locked door.

He heard something, a whirring sound to the left. In the room, it could be just a protocol droid or a camera. Those damn stupid robots, always popping up

at the wrong damn time.

The door opened but there was nothing, a ramp led up to the computer consoles and there was a shelf facing the other way.

He slowly walked up the steps, trusting nothing. Not even his own eyes but his senses.

There was only another dead body. He lowered the tool in his hand and moved towards the corpse.

A computer console exploded just as he started towards him. The explosion lifted him into the air and he slammed against a pipe back at the ramp.

Shards of plexi-glass and small pieces of circuitry littered the floor. Damn that hurt, he clutched his head in pain.

He slowly stood up, his muscles tensed. He was completely on edge, his nerves were frayed and his brain was at melting point.

He approached the corpse, another mutilated figure, once again face down. A search revealed nothing on him of use. But he held something in his hand,

he slowly pried each of the fingers off the access card in hand. He had died while he was holding it and rigor-mortis had set in, leaving it in a 'death' grip.

Christopher slotted the card into a slot for his cards, two already, he was amounting quite a little pile.

He picked up his wrench and smashed the glass that covered the two items on the shelf, some rifled slugs and a strength booster.

He just remembered the brawnboost implant, he checked it and it was powered. He slotted into place on his cyber-suit and felt the extra strength immediately through the endoskeletal structure of the suit.

You never know when I'll need that little bit extra, he reminded himself.

Now, to go see what is going on behind that locked door. I'll come back for those other doors in a minute. He started off down the ramp and out of the room.

He rounded the corner and saw a small container to his right, he bent down to reach for it. It was a container of nanites.

He picked them up and moved toward the door, he thought he heard a faint whispering.

A chill set through his body, it wasn't the temperature, he was sweating like crazy in this skin-tight outfit.

It was....a feeling of discontent. The whispers had an echoing ring to them, they were becoming more solid; like words.

Christopher shivered, he didn't like this at all. Something was very, very wrong here.

He turned to the door and found himself inside and looking through a transparent person.

He leapt back at least three feet in sheer fright and lifted his wrench above his head, prepared to smash it down on whatever it was before him.

'H-H-H-Have you seeen my card?'

Christopher's blood ran cold, it was facing the door. Pounding on it silently, there was no sound and the air felt thick and dry. He was finding it hard to swallow.

The wrench dropped from his hand and clanged on the metal catwalk echoing loudly.

'I had it in my hand a minute ago but I just can't f-f-find it.Hellooo?' it spoke again.

It's tones reverberated through the soldiers body, his clouded mind realised what he saw but refused to believe it. It couldn't be...that man was dead...he was dead.

As quickly the apparition had appeared it began to fade. The image imprinted on his neural cortex, he could still see it in front of him although it was gone.

A ghost.

His mind tried to rationalise the situation.

It couldn't be, that's just kids horror story stuff. He's dead, I must be imagining things. A side-effect of the cyro-stasis. That'll be it.

But, it was wearing that dead man's uniform in the previous room. It was wearing the same red logo on the back of the cap.

Sweet Jesus, it can't be. Am I losing it? He clutched his head, he couldn't deal with this. It was too much. He couldn't handle it.

I've got to see a doctor, his minds suddenly cleared and the fog lifted to a crystal clarity with one purpose:

Haul ass to deck 4, double time.

He slid the card home just as he heard it, a muttering. A barely audible muttering to one's self, now that was no ghost.

He retrieved the only weapon he had and hefted it above his head, the sound was closer now. Someone, or something, was talking to itself.

'Are we joined?' rasped the breathless voice just a few metres away.

Joined?

His vision flashed red. His thoughts exploded in a pinnacle of agony. Pain throbbed through his temple, he hadn't even seen what hit him. Christopher reeled backwards, almost tripping but he refused to let himself fall. He was not going to become another ghost roaming these death-filled corridors.

He staggered into the pillar and raised his head to face his foe. How he wished he hadn't. For the sight truly terrified him to the core, an ice shard into his

heart. All strength felt sapped from his body, he stared open-eyed in horror at the monstrosity in front of him.

It looked human but it was not. It looked changed, it was grotesque.

This was not a creation of God, it was an unholy freak of nature.

The thing was about the same height as himself and didn't look like it had a sex at all. It's face was a mess of blood and flesh, with two eyes poking out from either

side of it's face and a gaping, gory hole for a mouth. It had what looked like a fleshy tube which stemmed from it's neck and shoulder into the back of it's head.

'You are not one of usssssss...' it spat. And raised a piece of pipe above it's head and charged, wailing a hideous cry.

Reflexes jumped back into his nervous system taking control. Predict, anticipate, attack. The three principle motives in a fight were the things the marines

were taught. You became like fluid liquid, twisting and turning, striking and parrying. Pyshical fighting is a form of ballet, the drill sergeant had said, just without the

costumes.

The soldier ducked under the standard overhead slam, the creature instead made a forcible dent in the metal pillar.

It grunted in annoyance, the soldier spun in mid duck and slammed the wrench into the creatures back it howled in pain.

It's bloodstained clothing made it impossible to tell if he'd done much damage. But he didn't hear a crack or snap.

The creature swung round from the left with it's pipe again, back-pedalling furiously the implement brushed air against his face.

Too close, damn these things learn fast.

The soldier was in the doorway. His back to the corridor beyond, he watched the creature. It watched him. At least, he thought it did.

It growled, saliva dripping from it's mouth and it stalked forward two steps. Then it suddenly stopped. It kind of closed it's eyes and stood there.

The wrench was gripped so tightly in his hands it made his fingers numb, his stark, white knuckles glared at him as he held it just above his head.

It looked calm and serene, then it opened it's eyes and looked past him.

What is it looking at? Oh shit.....

The strike from behind still caught him in mid turn. The pain now spiked through his shoulder. He finally lost hold of his balance and landed on his back.

Another strange monster faced him, almost identical to the first. He wished he weren't so close to see so much, it had been operated on somehow.

Very crudely by the looks of it, a large part of the midsection skin had been removed. Revealing it's hideous insides stitched together, they looked vaguely human.

It screamed a guttural wail and raised it's hand above it's head, it held a hydro-spanner.

Instincts told him, now it's your only chance.

He lashed out with his foot, it caught the thing right at the knee. A horrible cracking sound came as the creature collapsed onto one knee, dropping the tool

and clutching it's leg in agony. It's face was inches from his own.

He pushed himself up in a small flip and brought his arm around hitting the detestable sight straight in the cranium. The wrench embedded itself in the

thing's soft face, the limp body fell backwards. The wrench slipped from his grasp. It hadn't even make a sound.

Still on his hunches, he turned. The other creature was now sprinting at full-speed toward him, it's blood stained pipe became his motivation to move.

He rolled forward and removed the wrench forcibly from the creatures face, it came with a sickening, sucking sound. Brandishing the gore-smeared tool in

front of him in both hands, he tensed for the swing.

It came, he prepared to side-step it and smash it in the back of the head as it passed.

He side-stepped, the creature had anticipated this and altered it's trajectory. Caught off guard Christopher tried to block the shot, it deflected painfully off

his right elbow. This time he did hear a crack, his swinging arm was broken.

The pain shot up his arm straight into his head like a thousand red-hot needles piercing his brain. He bit his lip to refrain screaming in agony.

What he did do, was grab the creature by it's blood-slick clothing and hurl it backwards with his left arm. It stumbled backwards into a medical

gurney but did not fall.

Just enough time to do this, he still held the wrench in his right hand but it was useless now, he passed it to his left. The pain prevented him from raising his

arm a millimetre. He reached down and grabbed a strength booster from a pouch with his right arm and pierced it directly into his left forearm.

He felt the strength build up and mass already, he tested the weapon in his left hand. The creature drew itself up and started to walk toward him, no more waiting.

He ran at the creature, he cried out with anger infused with pain, his rage built up his strength to it's uppermost.

'DIE!!' he screamed.

The creature lurched forward, the wrench struck it right in the midsection. It's pipe rolled on the floor and it slumped onto the soldier. Uttering a choking sound

deep down in it's throat.

Warm liquid poured over his hand, the wrench was inside it now.

He wasn't going to fuck with me anymore. No more. The soldier closed his eyes and felt the rage release and his inner-self relax slightly.

The dead weight became too much for him and he let it slide off his weapon onto the floor, where a thick pile of it's innards were dislodged by the blow.

A black pool of stinking, infected blood seeped around the still figure.

This was unbelievable. What is that? He saw a pinkish organ lying among the crap that looked like intestines or something. He picked it up, it was small about

the same size as a tennis ball and hard. This definitely wasn't human. But he'd find out what. And everything else.

A jolt of pain reminded him about his inure, he had become so engrossed he had almost forgotten.

Sticky blood also congealed around the wound on his head, he was going to have to find a med kit. For now, he'd have to do with the medical hypo injection,

it would regenerate the damaged tissue on his head or protect the bone in his elbow from further damage for now.

The pain dulled. God, how I want a drink right now. He staggered into the room next to him and pulled up a seat. In answer to his prayer, there sat a bottle of

whisky. Good stuff too. He smiled, unscrewed the cap and took a long swig. This was going to be a long day.

A crew log sat in front of him on the desk. He sat the wrench on the table and picked it up, the face of a pretty young officer stared back. She was beaming with pride in the auto-picture and her dark hair was pulled up to show off her features. Her name was Delacroix.

He pressed re-run and listened to the last thoughts of another ghost...