Chapter Nine - Beneath the Silence
Elias couldn't sleep.
He sat in the pilot's seat, staring at the blinking lights on the ship's console. The same soft hum filled the air, but something about it felt different tonight. Like the ship was breathing—slow and deep—right under his feet.
He tried the comms again, twisting the knob, tapping the screen, hoping for a voice. Just static.
Maeve came up behind him. She didn't say anything at first. She just stood there, arms crossed, her eyes watching the empty space outside the window.
"You ever get the feeling we're not alone?" she asked quietly.
Elias looked up at her. "Yeah. More and more lately."
She gave a small nod, like that answer didn't surprise her.
The ship had been strange ever since they found it. Lights flickering on their own. Doors opening when no one touched them. And the whispers—soft, distant, like someone talking just out of reach.
Elias leaned forward and replayed a hallway camera. For a moment, he froze. There—just for a second—something had moved past the corner of the screen. A shadow. A shape.
He rewound it. Played it again.
Nothing.
"Something wrong?" Maeve asked.
"I thought I saw…" He stopped. What could he even say? "Might've been a glitch."
Maeve didn't look convinced. She stepped closer and looked at the screen with him. "Let's go see."
They walked together, their footsteps echoing through the cold metal hallway. Elias had walked these corridors a dozen times by now, but tonight they felt... longer. Emptier.
Maeve stayed close to his side, her hand brushing the edge of her coat where she kept the pistol.
"You think it's ghosts?" she asked suddenly.
Elias gave her a tired smile. "In space?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe not ghosts. But something."
They stopped outside the engine room. Elias frowned.
The door was wide open.
"I locked that earlier," he said quietly.
Maeve didn't reply. She just stepped in behind him, careful, her eyes scanning the dark corners.
The engine room was cold. The kind of cold that settles in your chest and makes you forget how to breathe. Everything was still, but not peaceful. More like waiting.
Elias moved his light across the far wall—and stopped.
There was a mark. A long, deep scratch across the metal. It glowed faintly, like it had been burned in. But not by a tool. It looked alive.
"What is that?" Maeve whispered.
"I don't know," Elias said. He moved closer, reaching out—but didn't touch it.
Then, they heard it again.
Whispers.
Faint. So soft it barely counted as sound. But they were there. Words neither of them could understand, like someone talking through water.
Maeve stepped closer to Elias, her voice shaking. "I don't like this. It feels like... the ship's watching us."
He didn't argue. He felt it too.
Suddenly, a loud clang echoed from behind them. They both turned fast—Maeve raising her pistol, Elias shining his light down the hallway.
Nothing there.
They turned back to the wall—and the scratch was gone.
In its place was a symbol. A circle, made of sharp lines that twisted inward like a spiral. It didn't glow like before, but something about it felt like it was glowing inside their minds.
Elias stared at it.
"I've seen that before," he said.
Maeve looked at him. "Where?"
"On the side of your stasis pod. Before I opened it."
She didn't say anything at first. Then, softly, "Do you think this ship was connected to... whatever put me to sleep?"
"I don't know," Elias said. "But I think it's trying to tell us something."
Before they could say more, the lights above them flickered—and died.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Maeve grabbed his hand quickly. He felt her shaking.
"Elias?"
"I'm here," he said, holding her hand tightly. "We'll be okay."
But deep down, he wasn't sure anymore.
Not with the whispers growing louder.
And not with the feeling that something was standing right there with them… in the dark.