the core, and made it easy for him to find the energy to run. Still, he lagged behind, and as he got to the central concourse, the place with the giant observation portholes, he got a glimpse of her, barely a streak of light, heading straight for the mausoleum.
With only her frantic cries to guide him, he took flight after her, up the stairs and forsaking the elevator, following the sound of her voice.
“No!” she cried again and again. “No! Don’t touch me!”
When he got to the third floor he rounded the intersection of two corridors and faced the end of the hall toward Lea’s grave. He halted immediately at a sight that made his internal organs sink to his bowels. It was Lea, and that should have given him joy, but it didn’t. Contorting and circling Lea was a mass of dark, billowing gray. A cloud, or a tornado, spinning and twisting with fury.
Red eyes scowled at him, and he retreated a step, then two. Then Lea called out again. In desperation, he lunged for her. The spectral being was too quick, and sped off with Lea in its grasp. They moved so fast, all Harvey saw of them was a trail of odorless smoke. Lea’s voice, deafening at first, grew softer and softer. Then, before Harvey knew it, she was gone.
“LEA!” he shouted to an empty passageway, the walls adorned with plaques marking the resting places of the deceased. He felt like one of the dead now.
Everything inside of him wanted to come out. Physically sick and sweating and shaking, he leaned against the wall. Then a jarring signal from the computer forced him to investigate. Maybe it was word from Lea.
Instead, he found a holomemorial malfunction alert. A failure that demanded his immediate attention. He reached for the icon that collapsed the screen, intending to ignore the alert, when he caught a glimpse of the graveyard sector section in question. His sweat turned to ice as he stared at the place the computer was once again telling him to go— Zone 6.
9.
“Next stop, Zone 6. Doors open on the left. We at Cemetery Planet hope you find your visit pleasant and memorable. Thank you for riding, and have a nice day.”
The maglev train’s automated message shook Harvey from a disturbing slumber. He couldn’t stop thinking about the stories and legends of Zone 6. He never believed them, and always found himself laughing at the very idea. Now he believed. Now he knew to stay away. Yet here he was, riding in a tube at nearly the speed of sound, directly into the mouth of peril.
Finding Lea was his only concern. And that one, single-minded goal allowed him to overcome his terrible fear. He knew he’d find her out there. He knew it as true as the nights were long and gloomy on that planet.
When the train stopped finally and the vacuum tube airlocks hissed opened, he, in his all-too-uncomfortable exposure suit, stepped into a wisp of low fog. He was reminded of the being that kidnapped Lea, and the way it seemed to form from nothing. He refused to back down now, refused to listen to that voice of reason. The trip from here was still extensive, so he rolled out a PMD from the loading area and rode through dozens of swirls of delicate vapor. In the eddies he swore he saw faces, human forms, soaring above the headstones. But he dared not look too long.
He programmed the PMD’s navigational systems, though his own memory served as the best guide. He’d never forget where the lifepod had crashed.
Grave upon grave. Tombstone upon tombstone. An endless portrait. The final resting place for countless souls. The headstones melted into the background as he rode the narrow path, keeping his eyes down.
Then the proximity alarm came. He slowed the PMD to a stop, looked up, and spotted the lifepod, its cylindrical nose concealed by dark brown topsoil, a trail of bent and broken gravestones marking its crash path.
He studied the ancient and gothic graveyard. Stone slabs of all sizes, from a few
With only her frantic cries to guide him, he took flight after her, up the stairs and forsaking the elevator, following the sound of her voice.
“No!” she cried again and again. “No! Don’t touch me!”
When he got to the third floor he rounded the intersection of two corridors and faced the end of the hall toward Lea’s grave. He halted immediately at a sight that made his internal organs sink to his bowels. It was Lea, and that should have given him joy, but it didn’t. Contorting and circling Lea was a mass of dark, billowing gray. A cloud, or a tornado, spinning and twisting with fury.
Red eyes scowled at him, and he retreated a step, then two. Then Lea called out again. In desperation, he lunged for her. The spectral being was too quick, and sped off with Lea in its grasp. They moved so fast, all Harvey saw of them was a trail of odorless smoke. Lea’s voice, deafening at first, grew softer and softer. Then, before Harvey knew it, she was gone.
“LEA!” he shouted to an empty passageway, the walls adorned with plaques marking the resting places of the deceased. He felt like one of the dead now.
Everything inside of him wanted to come out. Physically sick and sweating and shaking, he leaned against the wall. Then a jarring signal from the computer forced him to investigate. Maybe it was word from Lea.
Instead, he found a holomemorial malfunction alert. A failure that demanded his immediate attention. He reached for the icon that collapsed the screen, intending to ignore the alert, when he caught a glimpse of the graveyard sector section in question. His sweat turned to ice as he stared at the place the computer was once again telling him to go— Zone 6.
9.
“Next stop, Zone 6. Doors open on the left. We at Cemetery Planet hope you find your visit pleasant and memorable. Thank you for riding, and have a nice day.”
The maglev train’s automated message shook Harvey from a disturbing slumber. He couldn’t stop thinking about the stories and legends of Zone 6. He never believed them, and always found himself laughing at the very idea. Now he believed. Now he knew to stay away. Yet here he was, riding in a tube at nearly the speed of sound, directly into the mouth of peril.
Finding Lea was his only concern. And that one, single-minded goal allowed him to overcome his terrible fear. He knew he’d find her out there. He knew it as true as the nights were long and gloomy on that planet.
When the train stopped finally and the vacuum tube airlocks hissed opened, he, in his all-too-uncomfortable exposure suit, stepped into a wisp of low fog. He was reminded of the being that kidnapped Lea, and the way it seemed to form from nothing. He refused to back down now, refused to listen to that voice of reason. The trip from here was still extensive, so he rolled out a PMD from the loading area and rode through dozens of swirls of delicate vapor. In the eddies he swore he saw faces, human forms, soaring above the headstones. But he dared not look too long.
He programmed the PMD’s navigational systems, though his own memory served as the best guide. He’d never forget where the lifepod had crashed.
Grave upon grave. Tombstone upon tombstone. An endless portrait. The final resting place for countless souls. The headstones melted into the background as he rode the narrow path, keeping his eyes down.
Then the proximity alarm came. He slowed the PMD to a stop, looked up, and spotted the lifepod, its cylindrical nose concealed by dark brown topsoil, a trail of bent and broken gravestones marking its crash path.
He studied the ancient and gothic graveyard. Stone slabs of all sizes, from a few
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