OLADOKUN_EMMANUEL

In the far future, space is cold, empty, and full of forgotten things.

Elias Thorne is a space scavenger—he travels alone, picking through old wrecks and broken stations. One day, he finds a ship floating near a dead star, where no one should be. Inside, there’s a woman in cryo-sleep. Her name is Maeve Calder, and she’s been missing for 50 years.

She wakes up with no memory of what happened.
The ship’s data is gone.
And something feels... off.

As Elias and Maeve try to figure out what happened, they start to grow close. But strange things start happening—time doesn’t feel right, and they keep hearing things in the ship. Maybe they’re not alone after all.

Now Elias has to choose—leave Maeve behind and save himself, or stay and face whatever’s out there with her. Even if it means they both get lost in the void.

Pulse In The Void

Maeve wandered the ship like she was trying to remember something that didn't want to be remembered.

Elias watched her from the corner of his eye as he tightened a bolt under the nav console. She moved quietly, fingers brushing along the wall, pausing now and then to stare at doors that didn't open or corridors that led nowhere.

She hadn't asked many questions. That, more than anything, made him uneasy.

"Ship's half dead," he said, trying to make conversation. "Main drive's offline, data core's toast. No logs. No coordinates. Like someone scrubbed it clean."

Maeve stood near the viewing panel, arms folded, eyes on the dead star outside.

She said nothing for a while. Then softly, "But the lights still work. And the life support. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

They sat in the galley that night, sharing protein cubes and water. Elias hated silence at mealtime—it reminded him too much of floating through derelict stations, picking through cold mess halls with no one left to eat.

He cleared his throat. "So. What's the last thing you remember?"

Maeve's eyes didn't leave the table. "I was on a research mission. Medical vessel, I think. My team… they were arguing. Loud voices. Alarms. And then…" She trailed off.

She looked up. "Nothing. Just cold. Then you."

Elias leaned back. "No records on the ship. Nothing about a mission, a team, nothing. Even the hull markings were burned off."

Maeve's fingers curled around her water pouch. "Then why was I still alive?"

That was the question that kept clawing at him too.

"You shouldn't have been," he said honestly. "Your pod was barely online. Battery was dead. And there was no main power on the ship."

She looked at him, eyes sharp now. "Then how?"

Elias shook his head slowly. "I don't know."

Later, in the engine room, Elias scanned the ship's systems again. Still no data. Still no logs. Still no sign of who had wiped the ship—or why.

Elias stared at it, breath caught in his throat.

He hadn't touched the system since breakfast.

Behind him, the lights flickered once. A slow, deliberate pulse.

But he suddenly felt like something on the ship had started watching them back

Chapter Three – The Silence Between Stars