A Spaceship Full of Ghosts

The Word Count, including this line, is 1998.

“Even this Universe is considered a Parallel Universe according to the other Parallel Universes. Each one thinks they are the main Universe. And the other thousand Universes are the Parallel Universes.”¹

“There are ghosts in every Universe - both the Parallel Universes and the main Universe. And there are a lot of ghost worlds in every Universe, and Parallel Universe, too. But they don’t have to actually live on a planet. They could be in between planets. Like the story you are about to read.”¹

A Spaceship Full of Ghosts

     “Most ghosts live on planets. But not all of them. And I’m not talking about SpaceGhosts who live in Space. I’m talking about ghost that live on spaceships. Or in this case travel between planets on a spaceship.” All of that was said by Gregon. Who was a ghost on that spaceship.

     Gregon was a Records Keeper. It was his job to keep the records for his people. Records of them had been for at least fifty thousand years. And it’s probably been longer than that. Maybe even hundreds of thousands of years - or millions of years. No could remember how far back it went.

     For over a thousand years Gregon had been this Records Keeper for his people. He didn’t know what happened to the former Records Keeper. But according to the records she just disappeared. Gregon knew some ghost have disappeared ever since ghosts began. And ghosts began almost when the universe began.

     “Once you are a ghost you are a ghost for eternity.” Gregon believed that to be true. He couldn’t explain about all the disappearances. That’s one of the reasons why he became a Records Keeper. Gregon had always wondered what happened to ghost when they disappeared. What happens to them? How did they disappear? Why did they disappear?

     Gregon couldn’t answer any of these questions – yet. But he was going to do it. One theory was that someone, a Human according to most, created a device, or discover a formula, that could kill ghosts once and for all. Gregon didn’t believe that – especially about it being a Human. At least not about the formula. But he did believe it might be a device of some kind.

     Why would someone create a device to kill ghosts once and for all. Ghosts are people too. The only real difference between ghosts and everyone else was that ghost would live for eternity. At least they could if they didn’t disappear.

     Another theory was that the ghosts disappeared because they didn’t live for eternity. The only problems with that theory was that there was a lot of the ghosts were pretty young when the disappeared. “And once you become a ghosts you didn’t age. If you were a child when you became a ghost you would always be a child.” Gregon thought about things like that at lot.

     Out of all of the theories. And there was a lot of them. The one that stands out the most was that someone created some kind of a device. What no one could figure out was who made it. It must had been millions of years ago. If not the beginning of the Universe. But Gregon didn’t believe that.

     Gregon believed it started millions of years ago. But he didn’t believe it was created that long ago. He thinks it was someone from the future. And whoever it was went back millions of years to start killing ghosts. But there have been killings since then. So whoever it is was that started it all must be continuing it through relatives - generation by generation.

     The big question was who started it. And whose relatives have been continuing it. Gregon didn’t want to admit it. But he’s starting to think it was a Human who started it all. The reason the thinks it was a Human was that he thinks there was one of them on that spaceship. And if there was one on that spaceship then the device used to kill ghosts was there too.

*******

     There were only a couple of hundred Humans on that spaceship. They are all that remains of the planet of Thamis. Which was the last ghost world that the ghosts on the spaceship came from. There were only three thousand ghosts living on that spaceship. But there were fifty billion other ghosts in Status Tubes hidden all over that spaceship.

     The ghosts on that spaceship, both living and in Status Tubes, were on their way to another planet to call home. But they didn’t want just any planet. They wanted a planet with several million Humans on it. Not only did they have to be Human, and several million, but they had to be able to breed too.

     They tried to live on a planet four hundred years ago. But that did work because the Humans there wasn’t able to breed. As a result, they could only live on that planet for a couple of hundred years before they had to start looking for a new planet. They had been looking for that planet ever since. But this time they weren’t going to take just any Human planet with a population of a million. The Humans had to be breeder too.

     That might sound like the ghosts needed that planet to be Human, and breeders, because they needed a killing field. Only that wasn’t true. In fact, it was just the opposite.

     The ghosts were going to take over the new world. But they weren’t there to kill the Human. They were there to use the Humans. The ghosts liked to live, but they didn’t want to do any work. That’s where the Humans come in. They did all the work.

*******

     “Commander, another ghost has disappeared,” said another ghost named Liena. Liena was an Investigator. She was one of the best there was. If a crime happened on that spaceship she could solve it. So far the only crimes had been stealing, fighting etc. But nothing real serious – except for the disappearances. “That makes seventeen in the last ten years.”

     “Who disappeared this time? And where were they when it happened,” said Commander Orlam.

     “His name was kelor. And he was at work in The Engine Room.”

     “Did anyone see it happen? And did they hear anything?” Commander Orlam continued to stare out of the main Viewscreen as he talked to Liena.

     “No one was there but the Humans. And according to them they didn’t see anything.”

     Commander Orlam and Liena were in The Control Room on that spaceship. There were six others there. An all of them were ghost too. “The Humans are lying.”

     “I agree Commander. The Humans are always lying to us. They can’t help themselves. After all, they are Human.”

     “What exactly did they say? I want to know everything.”

     “According to the Humans one second Kelor was yelling at them about something. Then he suddenly stopped. When they turned around to see what was going on. He was gone.”

     “Do you have any idea what’s going on here? I said I wanted to know everything. And I wasn’t just talking about the latest disappearance.”

     “I haven’t found out anything. All I know is that Humans have been nearby before each disappearance. But that isn’t saying much since the Humans are everywhere. They are doing the work we don’t want to do. And that pretty much all of the work on this spaceship.”

     “If you don’t then who does. You’re the best Investigator on this spaceship. But you’re not the only one. Does anyone else know what’s going on here.”

     “There is one who claims he does. It’s Gregon.”

     “Who is Gregon.” A few second later he said, “Oh yeah, he’s the Records Keeper.”

     “He has been curious about this even before all of the disappearances started on this spaceship.” Liena was standing right next to Commander Orlam. Who was sitting in his Command chair.

     “What is he curious about? And what is he claiming.”

     “I know it sounds crazy. But according to him his theory is that a Human is responsible for the disappearances.”

     Every ghost in the Control Room looked at Liena. And all of them had shocked looks on their faces. That included Commander Orlam. “That’s impossible.”

     “I agree Commander. But that’ what Gregon I saying.”

     “Exactly how are they doing this? What are they doing – eating them.”

     “It’s not them. There is only one doing the disappearances. And according to him they are using some kind of a device to do it.”

     “A device! The Humans on this spaceship are smart. But they aren’t that smart.”

*******

     Liena had a real big problem. Commander Orlam wanted the disappearances to stop. And he didn’t care how as long as they stopped. So she went to Gregon for help. She didn’t believe it could be a Human either, for the same reason Commander Orlam did, but he was getting desperate.

     As she was walking down the Corridor to Gregon’s Work Area she thought about his stupid, crazy, theory. She was starting to think he might be right. After all, if it’s not the Humans, or a Human, who is doing it it’s either some outside force – or it’s another ghost. And she didn’t want to think it was either one of those.

     Before she could enter Liena had to announce herself. Liena put her hand on the hand imprint next to the door to Gregon’s Work Area. Then said, “This is Liena. May I come in.”

     Gregon was looking at his Data Monitor when Liena made her announcement. He looked over at the door and said, “You may enter.” A second later Liena walked through the door. “There has been another disappearance hasn’t there?

     “That’s why I’m here,” said liena. “I want to talk to you about your theory.”

     “It’s not a theory anymore,” said Gregon. “I know who is behind the disappearances.” Liena walked up behind Gregon. And looked at the Data Monitor Gregon was pointing at. “It’s him. He has been at every one of the disappearances.”

*******

     Gregon insisted on coming with Liena. He wanted to know why the Human was making ghost disappear. Liena and Gregon didn’t even bother to announce themselves, they didn’t have to with Humans anyway, they just entered the Humans Sleeping Quarters.

     “My name is Liena,” said Liena. “And I want to talk to you Whevon.”

     Whevon turned to face Liena – and Gregon. He had the device in his hand. It looked like a small Hand Communicator. “What do you want to talk about.”

     “Is that what you have been using to make ghosts disappear?” Both Liena and Gregon was staring at the device.

     “Yes it is,” said Whevon. “And I haven’t been making them disappear. I have been killing them.”

     “Killing them! But why?” This time it was Gregon who spoke.

     “Because you make us do all the work. We do all the dangerous assignments. And we are tired of it. But we are too afraid to talk to you about it. At least most of us are.”

     “If you feel like that,” said Liena. “Then why not kill all of us at once with that device of yours.”

     “This device can only kill one ghosts at a time,” said Whevon. Then it needs time to digest before it can kill again.”

     “Digest! Does that mean that device is eating us?” Once again it’s Gregon who spoke.

     “That’s exactly what it means,” said Whevon. “And I know what you are going to do to me. You are going to kill me. But it won’t do you any good. It may take me a generation or two but I will be back to kill you all again.”

     “I knew you looked familiar,” said Liena. “You were killing us when we were on Thamis too – weren’t you?”

The End?

¹Excerps from “My Adventures” not yet Written by SpaceFaction aka PureSciFi.