The Moonlight Sector

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.” A man says coming into view. He is wearing a black suit. The background appears to be space, with a door in the distance. “Tonight,” he says as he begins to walk toward the door. “We’ll see a story from Christine Porter, an astronaut and scientist, on a mission to Mars to collect resources and materials that may be useful for human advancement. We find out what happens when she collects the wrong resource and someone or something comes back to find it. Tonight… we enter… The Moonlight Sector.” He walks into the door, before everything goes white.

Christine is shown in her suit, bouncing around the surface of Mars. It’s dusty and red. Baren. “Logdate, 2047. Day 60, the way things work here is… fascinating. No signs of life yet, but I’ve found several materials that could be of use to mankind with some refinement. ” As she continues to survey the surface, she comes across a crystal cluster. It shines in the light. She’s mesmerized. It appears to be a spirit quartz. It appears to have purple and white hints. She begins to dig it out. She grabs it and places it in her pouch. In the distance, she sees a dust storm. She begins to hurry and run back toward her station. The storm moves closer as she makes higher and higher jumps to get back. She breathes harder and harder trying to get back. Just before the storm gets her, she gets into the station. She turns on the oxygen and removes her helmet, catching her breath. She takes the crystal out and looks at it again.

“The cluster appears to be made up of amethyst and smoky quartz, with 2nd generation citrine growing from the top. Fascinating isn’t even the word. There’s only 3 known Spirit Quartz in existence, and I’ve found the 4th.” Christine says as she observes the crystal cluster. “It is said that the energy of a spirit quartz can allow a person to communicate with spirits. I’m not sure if I believe it, but as a scientist, I have to figure it out.”

Music plays as Christine dances around with a bowl of food. “Analyze subject properties.” She says a loud. A laser appears to scan the crystal cluster. She continues to dance and eat. Suddenly, she gets a video call. She accepts as a holographic screen comes on. “Porter, I’m reaching out for our halfway check in.” a man says. “Hey Captain, I’ve found several materials that we can use.” “Anything especially significant?” She looks to the spirit quartz for a second. “Porter?” “uh, sorry, no. Just a couple of metals and minerals.” “Good. Antares is turning back for another resolution, we will be to you in 60 days. Hopefully you can find more materials.” The captain says. “I’ll see you then.” She says, ending the call.

Outside, the storm picks up. Debris begins to bang against Christine’s lab door. Back inside, the sound of the debris is almost like knocks. But too quick to be knocks. Too sporadic in tone. She turns up her music to drown it out and check out the crystal’s properties on a monitor. “Fascinating.” She grabs the spirit quarts. “Turn off gravity.” She says. A system responds. She begins to float. She swims in the air, reveling in the ability to do so. She floats until she gets to her bed and lays down. “Anti-gravity off.”

THUMP THUMP THUMP. Much later in the night, Christine jumps up. She looks terrified. That sounded like a person knocking. THUMP THUMP THUMP. Consistent knocks. Consistent tones. She jumps down from her bed. THUMP THUMP THUMP. She nervously heads toward the door. “I know I didn’t sleep for 60 days…, that can’t be Antares.” THUMP THUMP THUMP. She gets to the computer moniters. She looks confused. Nothing on the moniter. No storm. No person. Nothing. THUMP THUMP THUMP. She jumps back. She then nervously edges toward the door. “Hello?” she says aloud. Nothing. Silence. THUMP THUMP THUMP. She puts on her suit. THUMP THUMP THUMP. She closes her eyes. Takes a deep breath and opens the door. Nothing is there. She looks more confused. She steps out for a moment and looks around. Frustration and confusion.

She goes back inside. After she takes off her suit, she goes to the monitors to rewind the night. The banging has stopped. She fast forwards through the footage. Nothing out of the ordinary. She shrugs it off, before going to make some food. As she is eating and reading, the light flickers quickly. She looks around, “what now?” She continues to eat. Silence. But this time, the silence feels different. Eerie. She looks around. And shakes off the feeling. Suddenly the lights flicker multiple times. “Okay, nope… not doing this.” She gets up. The lights flicker faster. As she turns to exit the lab. As the light flickers, she sees a figure down at the end of the hall. She drops her bowl. “h-h-hello…” Nothing. The lights continue to flicker more and more. The figure moves closer. “Captain?” She beings to move back slowly. As the figure gets closer, she begins to see it in the lit moments. He is a horribly burned and disfigured man, with blood dripping from his mouth. The blood squelches as he mumbles and growls. She screams. Just as he gets to her, an unearthly voice… almost demonic in nature says her name, “CHRISTINE!!!” she falls, and the lights stop flickering. The man is gone. She looks around terrified, trying to catch her breath.

Christine is shown in a utility lab, she grabs a vial and a syringe. “Screw this,” she shoots herself with it. She sits in a chair and begins to visibly be eased. She turns on a camera and begins to record. “I… think I’ve been exposed to something. I’m not sure, but I’ve been… hallucinating. Hearing loud bangs and there was a horribly burned man on the ship… I-this can’t be real. No man. No one at the door. I have to figure out what’s going on. But for now… I just shot myself with 30cc’s of Volumate to calm myself down. I’ll check back with my progress. For now, the Volumate is taking effect.” She turns it off and heads to her bed but looks at the door first. She laughs and gets in bed. Going back to sleep.

Time lapses on the computer monitor. As she is asleep, the same disfigured man appears in her room while she sleeps. He stands there for a moment. His legs are almost like hooves. Eventually, he moves in on her. He hovers over her body. Staring at her, almost lovingly. He then goes to touch her. Just as he does, she jumps up startled. Nothing there. She is catching her breath. She looks around and gets a chill.

“There is something on this ship, I can’t explain it… but I feel it.” She is in her lab recording. She looks at the crystal she found. “Since I found the spirit quartz……” She nods, telling herself that can’t be what’s happening. She watches the footage from the night in horror as she sees the disfigured man hovering over her body. “Activate UV lighting, tent to black and initiate gas.” As the lights adjust, she begins to see her footsteps and fingerprints. As the smoke comes out, it moves over her steps and reveals hooves. Christine looks on in terror for a moment. She runs to the computer and calls her captain.

“Captain, where are you? I need you to send a squad ahead, th-there’s something on the ship.” “Porter, what are you talking about? There’s no life on the ship.” “I know what I heard and saw. Something was BANGING on the doors like a-a man, and I saw someone…” “Porter, this happens to the best of us. The isolation, the silence… the mind will play tricks on you if you let it.” “No, no… I found this uh, spirit quartz the other day a-.” She turns quickly, feeling she’s heard something. “Did you say spirit quartz?” asks the Captain. She turns back to him slowly, “yes.” “Well… I’m not saying anything is happening, but I’ve heard stories surrounding those things.” “What have you heard?” “You don’t need this right now…” “CAPTAIN WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?!” “I’ve heard that… they’re spiritual tools used to communicate with the other side.” “What does that mean? The other side?” “The afterlife. Look, if I don’t know much but what I’ve heard isn’t good. I’ll send a squad ahead, but it’ll still take at least three weeks.” The light flickers. “I don’t think I have that much time.” She responds. “Wait… the brief you sent me a few weeks ago, the tech scan. You found a working ship from an old station 6 miles from here, right?” “Yeah, but can you make it? That’s farther than we’ve been able to explore on planet.” “I don’t know.” Suddenly the screen goes out. The light flickers she looks around afraid. “Captain?” she asks, almost whispering.

Christine is in her room gathering things. “Activate maximum oxygen output,” she says as she packs. “Keep the system live and active, just in case I have to come back.” She puts on her suit, then looks for a moment before grabbing the quartz and heads outside. It’s almost pitch black, aside from the red sand and red mountains in the horizon. She taps a code-box, “activate rover.” A door opens and reveals a small space rover. She hops in. As she turns on the lights, in from of her is the burned man with hooves for legs. She screams and jumps. “What are you?!” “CHRISTINEEEE” he says her name and it sends chills down her spine. She drives forward past it as she screams. She looks in the rearview and doesn’t see him anymore. Suddenly she hears a deer running. She turns quickly to see the man running toward her with his hooves, almost galloping. She screams, trying to speed up. He’s getting closer. “CHRISTINEEEE!” the sound sends shutters down her spine. In the distance ahead, she sees a storm. She has no choice; the beastly man is still chasing down her rover. The man almost gets to her, just as she almost hits the storm. Simultaneously, she turns, and the man falls forward in the storm. The rover flies in the air, spinning, as she screams. Everything flashes until, it goes dark.

She awakens on the ground in the red sand. Her suit shows 20% power left. She gets up and looks around. It’s a bit lighter than before, but still dark. She looks in the distance and notices the other lab. She gets up to run toward it. As she moves closer, she looks around noticing big chunks of spirit quartz. A couple feet from the door, suddenly the man appears. She stops. “What do you wannnnt?!” She yells. He walks forward. “CHRISTINEEE.” She is frozen in fear. Unable to move as he begins to deform more, his body growing taller and decaying. She closes her eyes. “This isn’t real. It’s in my head…” She opens them and he’s there. She screams loudly. “I WANT YOUR SOUL!!!” He grabs her face.

Christine jumps up sweating and breathing hard. She’s on a couch, in a living room. She looks around and comes to reality. She grabs her remote and turns off “The Twilight Zone” playing on tv. “Last time I watch a Twilight Zone marathon at night.” It’s 2am, she gets up and goes to bed. A man is laying in the bed, eating. He is the man who was burned and chasing her in the dream. “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asks. He tries to cover up himself eating in bed. “Sorry baby, you were talking in your sleep… I thought you were awake.” “No,” she gets in bed. “I had the craziest dream. I was on a Twilight Zone kind of show, and it was called Moonlight Sector, you were burned like Freddy Krueger or something and had like hooves for legs… “ “What?” “Yeah. I was like a scientist or something… I don’t know…and I was on Mars…” “This sounds like alot, did you have chocolate before you passed out?” She looks at him. “You KNOW I have chocolate.” They laugh. “I don’t know… it felt so real.” “I mean, no offense but you’re definitely not a scientist for NASA or anything babe, so you’re good there.” She rolls her eyes. “I’m not burned, you’re on Earth, Moonlight Sector isn’t a show and Twilight Zone isn’t a show anymore… I think you’re good.” He embraces her before cuddling her. They go to sleep.

Outside her house is an old man in all black, almost like a Mormon, with a spirit quartz necklace looking at their house. He is rubbing the necklace, with a menacing smirk on as he turns and walks away. Whistling.