Obscurity

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. That’s if you believe that hearing is the only sense you could use for that. But he knew what it means to FEEL a scream. To feel it without realizing that it’s not coming to you as a sound. At the time, he didn’t even register that fact in his head. There was no doubt that what he’s hearing is coming out of that open mouth he is staring at. And it didn’t really matter that there was a vacuum between them.

The scream was unbearable. When it first hit Eric’s brain, that high-pitched noise, his face winced in pain, and the mouth opened reflectively to preserve the eardrums. His hand grabbed the volume knob of his comm at the same moment, but that changed nothing. Because the noise was not coming through the comm…

But then something happened. Suddenly the feeling was not uncomfortable anymore. Yes, the sound was still loud, but Eric’s body didn’t mind. It was not resisting the sound, and maybe was even welcoming it. It was allowing to penetrate and surround itself.

Eric still couldn’t decide if he trusts this guy enough to talk about what he hadn’t told anyone else yet. He reached for a glass of water and took a long sip. Not thirsty, just wanted to take a pause to think.

The planet surface was moving slowly on the wall. Sometimes you forget that it’s not a window, but a large screen. It was a view in real time, but taken from the camera that is not rotating with the station, to not give a vertigo to the inhabitants.

The investigator waited patiently looking at Eric, fingers interlocked on the table. He was a likable guy, polite, but professionally insistent, in a dark suit that you can rarely see in this planetary region. He was definitely a level above the first team of investigators, both in the way he presented himself, and in how he asked questions.

“Tell me again, why are we talking about this now? I told everything to those guys a few times” – Eric waved his head towards the door.

The investigator unlocked his fingers, and his face became more animated. “We need to clarify a few things, because of a new information we have received. I understand, this was a traumatic experience for you, but your answers are important to us, and we appreciate your cooperation.”

After a pause, the investigator continued. “If you’ll allow me, I get back to my questions. Actually, to make it easier, let me walk you through the sequence of events, and you’ll correct me if I misrepresent something.”

The investigator touched the side of his half-glasses, and his pupils started moving back and forth, scrolling screens of data invisible to Eric.

“So, you entered the ship as a part of the rescue team, and went through the bays looking for bodies. The ship was depressurized, therefore you had to wear your spacesuits all the time. The artificial gravity was off. Emergency lighting was still functioning. In fifteen minutes or so you reached the bay where your brother’s body was located. Correct so far?”

Eric nodded.

“Then you saw and heard something that made you stop and retreat.” He tilted his head forward and looked at Eric above the glasses. “In your report, you identified that noise you heard as a scream. Why?”

Eric shrugged. “I could call it an extremely loud screeching”.

“But you didn’t. I got an impression that the word choice was very deliberate. You believed that sound was produced by a living being, didn’t you?”

Eric started feeling that his headache is coming back. “Listen, we went through all that with Mrs. Gruber.”

“Psychotherapist?”

“Yes. I understand you read my initial report. But after I wrote it, we talked with Mrs. Gruber numerous times, and she helped me realize that I… passed out, and everything I described came to me as a dream-like vision. My brother was dead, he couldn’t open his mouth, he couldn’t scream. He had been dead for seven hours by that time. Along with everyone else on that ship. There was nothing found during the autopsy later that would explain what I saw…, what I thought I saw. And… as you know, sounds cannot travel in a vacuum.”

Now Eric was thirsty. He took another sip, and put down the glass feeling that his hand is starting to tremble.

“And how do you explain your passing out?” – the investigator asked.

“I didn’t sleep well for several nights before, and I was taking sleeping pills. May be too many. I was… on the edge, because of my brother’s death. And when I saw his body...” Eric’s voice cracked. “You know, we were very close.”

“When your crewmates found you, you were indeed unconscious. It took them a couple of minutes to bring you back” The investigator paused. “Is there a chance that you lost consciousness as the result of what you saw?”

Eric hesitated for a moment, then replied: “I don’t have an answer to that.”

A shadow started to drape over the planet surface on the wall. They were approaching the dark side.

“Do you know what happened on your brother’s ship? What was the cause of the explosion?”

“No, I was told it’s classified. What I know though… It happened so quickly they couldn’t even get to oxygen masks. Those who didn’t die from the explosion suffocated at their posts.” Eric looked away shaking his head. Then he looked at the investigator again. “You said you’ve got some new information. What is it about?”

The investigator leaned back in his chair. “Before I get to that, just a couple more questions. You’ve been stationed in this planetary region for six months now. Have you been to the surface yet?”

“Only once, as a part of my onboarding.” Eric felt a slight relief at the change of subject. “My access level as a mechanical engineer is very limited.”

“And what do you think about the artifacts?”

“Nobody tells us much. I know that a bunch of scientists is still working on cracking that. And new people arrive every week. But from what I heard, they still can’t get inside those structures, and they have no idea of who built them.”

The investigator gazed at Eric more intensely before asking the next question.

“Have you heard what happened last week near the base?”

“That they found a body in some unexpected place?”

“Yes. Do you know who that was?”

“No” Eric was intrigued. “One of the scientists?”

“Your rescue mission recovered all the crew members from your brother’s ship except one.”

“Right. The pilot who was sucked outside through the damage in the wall. We saw a lot of debris near the ship, but never found him.” Eric’s eyes opened widely. “Wait… Are you saying?”

“Yes. And there are no signs on his body that it just fell all the way from space to the surface.” The investigator was visibly enjoying the look on Eric’s face.

“What’s even more interesting… Our biologists found some similarities between the condition of your brother’s body and the pilot’s.”

He paused.

“Do you remember the document I asked you to sign when I got here? Everything we talked about, and what you are about to see, is top secret. Understood? Now, please follow me. I want to show you something.” The investigator got up and pointed to the door.