Max Hayes: Ghost Zombies

This was one of the most terrifying things that has ever happened to me. Okay that’s probably an exaggeration, but it was pretty scary all the same.

I was travelling past the HD 805472 star system when I received an incoming transmission from the planet Orgus within the system.
“This is the Falcon II,” I said, after picking up the comm. Falcon is indeed not a very original name for a ship.
“He Max, how’s it going?” It was Kyle, a guy I knew who was stationed there at some terraforming research facility.
The ship had automatically established a link with the communication satellite in the system a soon as it had been in range. The base had probably special access to the satellite – maybe their company owned it – so it would report all traffic that had contacted it.
About a year ago we had done two supply runs to the facility, which is how I got to know Kyle. Besides a couple of short chats during our deliveries, I didn’t really know him that well, but he seemed like a pretty okay guy.
“Doing good Kyle. You guys holding out down there?” I replied. His base was only manned by two or three people and he had probably been there for quite some time.
“Okay I guess,” Kyle said. “Are you dropping by the seven two?”
“Not exactly, I’am heading for SC4.”
“Damm.” Kyle said disappointed.
“What’s up?”
There was a long pause.
“Max, I know this is a strange request, but could you possibly pick me up from here.”
Kyle sounded a bit desperate. Now I wasn’t heading into the system, but I was practically skimming it. Making a detour including a landing on Orgus was only going to take a few hours and I wasn’t going any where in a hurry. Kevin, my friend and business partner was waiting for me on SC4. He had heard from an old friend of his, some other guy we knew had a contact who might have a job for us. Because our ship was still being repaired, he decided to travel ahead with a commercial transport. Anyway, I was still more than two days away from SC4, a four or five hour delay wasn’t going to be the end of the world.
“I can do that.” I said to Kyle.
“Thanks that’ll be great” Kyle said. He did sound relieved
“What’s going on Kyle, are you quitting your job or something?” This clearly wasn’t a planned leave.
“Maybe, I just need get of this rock for a while.”
“Right, if you’re sure of this, I’ll pick you up. Just make sure you got your bags packed when I get there.”
“I’m sure. Thanks Max, I owe you. I’ll be ready when you get here,” Kyle said as I diverted the ship towards the system while at the same time scrolling through the navigation system.
I could find Orgus but not the facility beacon.
“Eh Kyle, what’s your beacon number?”
“This is weird; can I get back to you in a second?” Kyle said.

“Sure,” I said, but Kyle had already ended the transmission.
After selecting Orgus in the navigation system a bright star in front of the ship got the labels HD 805472 and Orgus by the holographic heads up display. We would probably be able to pick up the facility beacon signal directly when we got closer to the planet. I switched the autopilot back on, which made some additional adjustments to our heading.
After checking the systems I left the cockpit. There where three small quarters on each side of the lower hallway, which ran back from the cockpit. Since we were only a three man crew most of the time, we had space to spare. We had named the room with the most closets the mess hall and drilled a small dinner table in the deck.
R was sitting straight up at the table and started looking at me as soon as I entered the mess hall. R was the robot we had once acquired. It looked like a human male and you wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise unless you were standing up close. We had salvaged it from a base we more or less stumbled across a couple of years ago. The original occupants were either smugglers or pirates and it was highly doubtful they were the legitimate owners of most of the stuff on base.
So we found a robot. It was a relatively stupid robot, but we couldn’t complain since normally these things cost a fortune. We would probably have sold it for a good price if we hadn’t found out it was quite capable in the operation firearms and related skills, a thing it didn’t need to be taught.
“Hello R, how are you doing?”
“Good.”
“Great, we are going to make a landing on a planet a few hours from now. We are going to pick up a person on this planet who will be our passenger.” Experience learned it was best to spell everything out.

Since I had nothing better to do I made a meal myself. I spend some time in my quarters afterwards, to do some reading, before heading back to the cockpit.
We were now nearing the system. The heads up display was already displaying the labels HD 805472 and Orgus on separate locations, so I was getting close.
I brought the ship around so we could quickly slow down the ship by using the main thrusters. To bring it round once more so I could manoeuvre it to the planet. We really needed a more advanced autopilot.
I wasn’t a trained pilot but over the years I had picked up enough from Kevin to do most of the standard manoeuvres. Kevin was our real pilot. He even had a licence; an expired one, but a license none the less. He had earned it flying in the military. According to himself he was one of the best in his unit. Now Kevin isn’t always a reliable source of information but he is a good pilot.
When I finally neared the planet while reducing my relative speed below the maximum for entry in the atmosphere I realized this made little sense since I had forgotten to track the beacon. Of course the beacon and with it the base ended up being on the other side of the planet.

After a little orbital and too much atmospheric flight I touched down the ship near the base.

I lowered the ramp at the back of the ship and headed out to the complex. The base was located on a huge plain. On one side you could see the mountains, which lined the plain on the horizon. The plain itself was a barren wasteland except for small patches of tough long brown grass scattered every few feet. I got an uncomfortable feeling while walking across it. I thought about what hell it must be to live here months on end.
Some might say the same about my profession. Being bottled up with the same people on a tight ship for a couple of weeks can be quite a challenge. Such long travels were luckily rare for us and even when they did occur they would bring us to a new place.
This base was a ragged on, it consisted of a couple of blue containers, a small dome were they kept their plants, a hanger to stash their vehicles and that was it. For the main building the architect went a little crazy by placing a short container on top of a long one so you could use a stairs on the outside to reach it.
The people who worked here seemed contend though. Their research was interesting to them as far as I could gather, and that was often enough for a scientist to put up with a workplace like this. I wondered what Kyle’s story was.
I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling as I neared the base, it was hard to describe. For one no one had come out to greet me or even watch the landing, but the place didn’t feel deserted although it certainly looked that way. An eight wheeled all terrain vehicle was standing in the hangar as I passed it on my way to the main building.
Two steps led up to the door of the lower container of the main building, which was halfway open. It was quiet inside. It didn’t seem too suspicious.
I grabbed my gun from the holster on my back.
As I peered into the right side of the room I could see a kitchen cabinet on the opposite side. Directly behind stood a few stacks of empty supply crates. They had decided to split the long container up this way to make it a little bit cosier. I opened the door further with my left hand to check the other side of the room. It was clear. A large window, the only one in the container, looked out onto the mountains in the distance. An agreeable living room had been created here. As I stepped inside I noticed the glass of water standing on the small table. The sun, looming over the mountains, would settle in a few hours.
The wall of supply crates left an opening into the other part of the container. A white bright lamp was mounted on the ceiling in it and from here I could already see the body on the floor. This was going great.
I slowly moved into the second room. The sides of the container were lined with a number of desks, on top of which computers and other electronic equipment was interspaced with documents and books. On the far wall stood some shelves containing what looked like a part of the supplies, first aid kits and some binders.

The body was lying besides a chair with its legs still between the chair and the table under which the chair stood. The table seemed to have moved a bit as it didn’t stand at right angles with the wall. There was blood on the side of the head, it was Kyle’s head by the way, and there seemed to be a large puncture wound just beneath the eye. A couple more puncture wounds were visible on the torso and legs but they didn’t seem to have bled as much. There was a radio standing on the table, which was probably the one he had used to call me. I turned it around towards me and used the folded out keyboard to check the log. The last entry was indeed my ship, routed via the satellite.
At this point it came to me that whoever hit Kyle must have been standing slightly behind him in the far side of the room. This wouldn’t be especially relevant if my mind didn’t closely connect this to the uncomfortable feeling I had been having all this time.
Although uncomfortable was not the right word to describe it. The feeling itself didn’t feel unfamiliar at all, but it was at the same time undeniably present. It wasn’t an evil dread or something threatening. It just felt out of place. It was kind of feeling a little more aware of you being there in the room, which isn’t a strange feeling at all, but at that moment I realized, as a fear crept up to me from the back of my mind, it was a strange feeling to have if you’re alone.
At this point, and I admit it, I slightly panicked. I walked backwards towards the other side of the container; instinctively trying to get my back onto the wall but leaving my gun on the table.
Then my slight panic turned into shock as I bumped into something in an empty part of the room. And it moved. After a short moment of paralysis I jolted forward, knocking into the table, before making the turn that would get me out of the room. What it was I bumped into I could not tell, but getting away seemed a sound strategy. A moment later I charged out of the door of the container and started a sprint towards the ship.
Even when I left the base behind me I had a hard time thinking clearly. I was about halfway to my ship when I, at top speed, collided with something sizeable. It was thrown to the ground and I lost my balance from the impact. I used my arms to break my fall. I looked behind towards whatever it was I hit and saw nothing. I quickly pushed myself up from the ground, but just before I got on my feet again I felt something grabbing my leg. It was pulling me back. I tried to tear myself loose but couldn’t, so I rolled to my back so I could kick into whatever it was that was holding me. I started kicking backwards, while trying to tear my other leg loose self loose as I felt a second hand trying to get a hold of me. By this time I was pretty sure it were in fact hands, and even though I could not see anything, I could feel my kicks landing and see the dust on the ground being moved by something pulling me towards it and trying to crawl onto me. At some point I must have hit something good, its grip relaxed enough to tear myself free. I did a backward roll, got up on my feet and started running again.

By the time I finally reached the ship I had regained my composure a little. I ran onto the ramp into the back towards the control panel just up the ramp. I flicked the main switch to lift and close it.
At this point I was already paranoid enough to imagine something could already have entered the ship.
“R” I screamed into the ship. No response came. I more sensibly pressed the intercom button on the control panel beside me. “R report to the cargo deck, bring weapons.”
I opened the only door which led out of the cargo room and stepped through it into the lower hallway. R came running down the hallway holding two heavy rifles akimbo. I closed the door behind me and took one of his hands.
“Have you heard this door opening?” I asked.
“Yes I have heard it” R answered me in an assuring way, which made me redefine my question.
“Have you also heard or maybe seen this door opening before I called you through the intercom just now?” “And of course after I left the ship.”
R took a few seconds pause to contemplate this.
“I do not recall hearing or seeing the door opening then,” R stated.
“Great, good job.”

Having calmed down a bit I walked up towards the window in my quarters which was looking out towards the base. There was nothing to see at first, but as I peered over the area I thought I saw some grass moving. It was hard to make out from this distance, so I picked up my binoculars from my desk. Looking through them I could see something stepping through the sand about halfway from the base. The ground was hard so it didn’t leave a print, but from the way small pebbles seemed to compress into the ground and some fine sand was thrown up, it was clear that something was stepping on it. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to actually try to move unnoticed, as it walked straight into patches of grass which moved about and were pressed onto the ground. As I scanned the area around the base, now knowing what to look for, I started spotting more of the same. None seemed to be moving very fast. This in addition to actually being able to see what was out there calmed me down a bit for a moment.
Suddenly the wet impression of a hand appeared on the window.
I carefully took a big step back.

Smartest thing now was to do what Kyle’s had wanted to do and that was: Leaving this rock. Over the radio it hadn’t seemed like Kyle knew in what danger he was, but he must have known something was wrong, otherwise he wouldn’t have called me.
I walked to the cockpit and powered up the engines.
I realized since I wasn’t doing anything illegal here and at least one person had died, I could simply inform authorities, but that could wait; first things first.
I took one last look at the base. I felt a bit stupid for leaving behind my gun. I was kinda attached to it. I powered up the engines. Just as I was about to take off, I saw something on the roof of the main base, and although it was pretty far away I had to admit it was clearly a person waving his arms in the air. I took a deep breath.

After shutting down the engines I turned on the radio to record a message.
“This is the Falcon II, HD 805472, planet Orgus. Less then three hours ago I received a request for pickup from one of the workers of the EcoTech research facility. Upon landing one of the workers is found dead, murdered, first name Kyle, last name unknown.” So far, so good. Here is where it got a little tricky because I didn’t want to sound like a crazy person.
“A number of invisible entities are stalking the base.” That sounded pretty serious if not believable.
“I was attacked by one and was forced to retreat to my ship.” I liked this line especially because it made me look really cool headed.
“At least one other personnel member is still alive and is trapped at the base.”
I finished up the message; “this is a distress signal, please respond,” and sent it out via the communication satellite.
I marked it as a distress signal, so the satellite would repeat the message on a regular basis to be picked up by ships in range. It would also burst the message to a nearby star base, probably SC4, supplied it had a long range burst facility.

Seeing the person was still waving, I flicked the ship lights on and off until he stopped. I walked up to my quarters and picked up the binocular. The person was standing on the first storey roof of the main structure. It was a man in a blue overall. I didn’t recognise him, but I figured he was probably with science team. If Kevin were here we would fly up there, hover just above the building and lower the ramp so the guy could jump on, but Kevin wasn’t here and there was a reason I ended up landing the ship so far from the base.

In zero gravity I could easily fly this ship into a small hangar bay if I had the time. With the amount of gravity here it wasn’t so easy. You needed to manually control the VL thrusters to hover while using the RCS thrusters for manoeuvring. Landing a ship this size on an exact spot requires a lot of precision. Usually when I land a ship on a planet I’m already satisfied if I get it to hover stationary anywhere.

But as they say ‘If you don’t try, you never learn’ or something like that. There was of course that other thing; I was pretty confident nothing had come into this part of the ship, but I wasn’t completely sure about the cargo deck.
“R get over here.”
R came running from the hallway where he had been standing ever since.
“R pay close attention, Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Do you see the blue building over there?”
“I see two blue buildings.”
“The one on the right. Do you see the person on top of it?”
“Yes”
“We are going to rescue this person.” I explained. “Now R there are also other people out there, but they are invisible. Do you understand?”
“I do not understand the question.” R apologized.
“Lets try this on more time. There are enemies there which are very hard to see.”

“Are they cloaked?”
“Yes. Yes, exactly they are cloaked, and maybe there is also one on the cargo deck. Now I want you to put on all your combat gear, then go to the cargo deck and listen to my instructions over the intercom.”
“Yes.”
That went easier than I expected. I was probably just getting better at it.

While R geared up I decided it was smart to get some armor on myself, just in case. My suit was hanging in a locker in my quarters. It wasn’t real body armor, just a space suit. I took off the rest of my clothes, because this thing was super warm to wear. It also was too tight across my breasts. The thick fabric of the suit did gave allot of added protection though.
Before I returned to the cockpit I closed all the doors surrounding the lower hallway. I saw R already standing on the cargo deck and he had, by himself, closed the door neatly behind him. He is so smart!
I settled myself in the cockpit flicked the lights on and off a couple more times so the guy wouldn’t completely panic when he saw the ship take off.

When the engines were powered up I very slowly increased the lift. The ship started to inch of the ground. A few meters in the air it already started to veer forward due to imbalance of the ship. So I pulled back a little on the wheel to make it stop. The trick was not to overcorrect. This was hard to get right because there was a long delay. I started turning the ship left so it would point towards base. After the turn the ship was still going forwards, so my earlier correction was probably too small. It was okay for the time being, because we were now moving into the direction of the base. As we closed with it base at a steady pace, I reduced the VL thrust because the ship was still gaining height. This of course immediately caused the ship to loose height.
As the ship neared the base I pulled back a little on the wheel to loose speed and increased the VL thrust a tad so we wouldn’t crash into the building. The ship started to loose some speed. As I looked down to the ground from the cockpit I saw huge amount dust being blown away. You could actually see the dust being deflected of otherwise invisible man sized objects moving around on the ground. This also made me realize, I should do a quick steer to the left with the pedals to prevent the ship from moving over the main building and roasting this guy with our thrusters. The guy himself stood very calmly despite of this. He either didn’t realize it or trusted I knew what I was doing. This was partly true.
Having turned the ship, it was now pointing into the right direction, but it was still continuing on its original course. So I could either turn the wheel left to roll a little left or push the wheel left to engage side way RCS thrusters to push the ship left. I went for the last one, because rolling the ship would probably make us loose height and I just got the ship steady. Steady concerning height that is, in the other direction things didn’t go so well. I did avoid going over the main building but still had a lot of forward speed which I wasn’t losing fast enough. Pulling back a tad more on the wheel got the ship going backwards again after I overshot the main building by say a hundred and fifty meters.

The only thing I had to do now was move slowly back to the left of the building. Turn left another ninety degrees so the ramp would line up with the building. Lower the ramp, and then, by either following R’s instructions or telling him to open the cargo deck door, so I could look back myself through the hallway out to the back of the ship, softly bring the ramp down on the roof of the building. This was not going to work.
I decided to go for something else. I turned the ship a little to the right so I could see the building. Lowering the VL thrust slightly while allowing the ship to continue its momentum back to the building. At the current rate it would land only some thirty meters away from the building.
When the ship hit the ground, and it was a very soft landing, I lowered the power of the VL thrusters a little more just for safety. I quickly put on my helmet; there was no need to make it airtight. With a rifle in one hand I opened the cockpit door and walked into the room across from my quarters. The room had been given a dual purpose of supply room and armoury. From a lower shelf I picked up and opened a box of smoke grenades and quickly put as many as possible in the pockets of my suit’s utility belt. I moved to the cargo deck, closing the door behind me.
“R lower the ramp.” R immediately walked up to a console and turned the main switch.
“R follow me and shoot at any, ehm, stealth enemies coming near.”
As the ramp opened I could see the dust being blown away and hear the thunderous of the engines. I walked to the end of the ramp. I jumped off when it was only a few feet from the ground. While moving across the right side of the plane, some sand thrown up by the right VL thrusters blew across my visor. As I moved around the right thrusters I threw down a number of smoke grenades in a broad pattern between the thrusters and the direction we were heading. The smoke grenades ignited. Dark red smoke was blown outward from the ship in a wide arc in the general direction of the building.
I peered through the smoke cloud. It was harder to see than from the air, but I could see the smoke curving around something which was approaching us from the direction of the building. I kneeled down, took aim and pulled the trigger. An explosion of blood went out from the invisible shape before it fell to the ground. “Okay, move up” I yelled, barely overcoming the sound of the engines.

Halfway to the building the guy appeared at the ledge of the roof. “I’m here!” he yelled while waiving his arms.
“Stay there, we’re coming to get you” I yelled back. I realized this was the first person I had talked to in person since I left the station. This wasn’t the time to start a conversation however.
I looked around and saw R standing motionless a while back carefully trailing something to our left with his rifle. I started scanning the same area, when R fired a long burst. Streams of blood splattered the back side of the building.

I threw down another two grenades when we reached the side of the building to cover the front and back. When I was about the turn the corner to the front of the building, a little movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The smoke was getting thinner farther away from the ship but I knew I had seen something in the direction of the hangar. I kneeled and took aim and fired a number of burst while moving my rifle left and right between burst. At some point blood started appearing on something a hundred meters away, which provided a nice point of aim. I could see it kneel to the ground before it fell after I scored some more hits.
Suddenly a loud burst from R’s rifle made me look back. Just in time too see another one go down approximately one meter to my right. I looked back at R with an angry look on my face. R calmly looked back for a while and returned to scanning the area as soon as he realised I wasn’t going to talk.
I turned the corner to the front of the building. I passed the door I ran out earlier the day. I kept a safe distance between it and me, while throwing a smoke grenade into the building. The staircase was also located at the front of the building and let up to a door in the smaller first storey container. When I reached the stairs I sprayed some bullets from base to top. Nothing happened.
“R hold here, watch the area.” I said, pointing R to the base of the stairs while climbing them myself. From the top of the stairs I could look across the entire base.
“You can come out here now!” I screamed, and I realized I should just have told him to lower himself of the first storey roof onto the ground when we reached the building. I took a while before I could hear the locks on the inside moving. The door opened behind me while I took down another one of these things I spotted moving towards the main building.
He looked very frightened. “Where are we going?” He yelled visibly scared against the roar of the engines and the wind.
“We’re moving back to the ship. Walk down but stay behind my friend here, alright” I yelled back, pointing towards R.
“Okay.” He said nervously and started moving down the stairs.
“We’re almost out of here. Just stay calm.” I realized from up here I had a really good vantage point. “R protect him.” I yelled down.
Instead of moving down as well I stepped into small container. I moved through it, which appeared to be someone’s bedroom, towards the other door. This door gave access to the first storey roof of the bottom container; the place this guy had been standing on. From here I would have a clear vision up to the ramp of the ship. I moved to the front of the building and spotted another shape moving through the smoke. After it fell down, after me shooting it of course, I peered over the edge onto R and the guy.
“R Move back to the ship, I’ll cover you two from here.” I took a small breath and continued. “Throw the smoke grenades I will give you around the ramp. Hold position at the end of the ramp and cover me when I move back to the ship.” The moment I threw R my remaining smoke grenades, I was just able to spot a feint shape coming round the stairs where the smoke wasn’t so thick. “R behind you!” I quickly shouldered my rifle but R beat me too it as he turned and gunned down the thing. The guy staggered to his feet, after falling backwards onto the stairs in a scare.

“R did you get everything I just told you?”
“Yes,” R replied.
I held my position on the roof as the two of them moved back towards the ship. Only one other of these things approached them. I spotted it when it stepped in front of one of the smoke grenades around the VL thrusters and took it down.
They safely reached the ramp. The guy moved into the ship while R threw the remaining smoke grenades some distance around him. I moved back through the room and down the stairs. As I approached the door, I tried peaking inside. The smoke grenade I threw in there was going to be active for a while as green smoke billowed out of the door. My gun, I knew, was lying in the furthest chamber. I told myself it was quite expensive.

Carefully, with my rifle at the ready, I stepped into the room. The smoke was thick. The window shook under the sound of the ship’s engines. I took another step. I could spot the bright lamp in the other room as it shined through the smoke. I took a step towards the opening and noticed the way light seemed to be reflected by the smoke particles. Still a few feet of the opening, I suddenly noticed there was an outline in the smoke. Before I could realise what is was I was hit. The first one came right in the ribs and I felt something puncture my suit en cut into my flesh. My rifle dropped from my hands. I crumpled as I kneeled on the ground and reached for my chest. The second hit, to the front of the head, cracked the visor of my helmet and slammed me backward to the ground. The pain in my chest was unbearable and my vision was blurry. As I lay on the ground I pulled up my head. In the bright light and the illuminated smoke, the shape of a man holding a crowbar stepped in front of the opening. I could see it lifting the crowbar into the air. The man swung down his weapon. I used all my strength to roll right and heard iron hit the ground where I lay a moment before; I also felt my rifle lying under me.
Ignoring the pain I quickly used my left hand to push off the floor and roll onto my right side, allowing me to reach the rifle with my right hand. After getting a firm hold of the grip, I rolled on onto my back and raised the rifle at the man in the opening. I pulled the trigger until the bullets ran out. The man was thrown back; being ripped apart in a haze of blood.

After he went down I didn’t of course really wait for the bullets to run out. That could take well over a minute.
Moving from a lying in a sitting position, required me took take a breather due to the pain in the side of my chest. The wound was bleeding heavily, but not at an alarming, medical emergency, rate.
It was harder to breath with the thick smoke now my visor was broken. I slowly stood up and took a few steps towards the still hissing smoke grenade. A surge a pain went through my chest as I kicked it out of the building.
My head was still pounding. I staggered into the other room and started looking for my gun. It was important for me to have at least some justification for getting myself in the mess I was in right now. The smoke started clearing. I saw the gun lying in front of the table. As I reached down to grab it, my hand hit an invisible barrier. This was the exact place I found Kyle when I got here. I reached around and grabbed my gun from the floor before stepping back and firing some rounds into the area. Spots of blood appeared to prove my theory.

As I walked out of the building the pounding in my head became more intense. My eyes went black. A small slap went through my body as it slammed into the ground.

A fierce pain woke me up. I was in my quarters. Some bandages were strung across my chest. The memories were returning. After having put on some clothes I opened the door of my quarters. “R were are you?” I yelled in a tired whisper. No response came.

I was strapping myself in the cockpit seat when R came walking in.
“Hello Max how are you.”
“I’m fine, thanks. What happened?”
A small pause followed. “I don not understand the question.”
I was not in the mood for this. “How did I get on the ship?”
“I carried you here.”
“Where’s the man we rescued?”
“In my quarters. He is sleeping.”
I powered up the engines and took off.

A couple of days later we reached SC4. The guy we saved was named Thomas. He was very grateful of course. He didn’t know much more about what had happened. A quick summary: about an hour before I got there, he had found another member of their team death on the outskirts of the base. He was attacked by something invisible shortly after and first hid in the dome before moving up the main building to get the attention of the ship. Kyle had seemed slightly nervous in the days before but nothing more. I made a full recovery.