“Judy! Pull the lever on my signal!” shouted Art.
“Aye, aye, Captain!”
“Captain?”
“Sorry, Dad, that's the only thing I could think of,” laughed Judy.
“Okay, let's go!” ordered a second voice. “Go.”
Judy obeyed, but nothing happened.
“Rhaa, that should have worked,” grunted Sly, the second voice.
“Dad, Daddy, what do I do now?”
“Go get Moose.”
“Yes, sir!”
Judy had been traveling since childhood with her two fathers, Art and Sly, and her uncle, Moose. It was a wonderful life for her until their ship inexplicably broke down above the planet Freya. But that was part of the adventure, and why she loved to travel.
Judy, a young woman of twenty with short, wavy red hair and small black eyes, was waiting, not knowing what to do. They couldn't afford to land on Freya until they could take off again. While her fathers tried to repair the ship, her uncle, Moose, Art's brother, literally slept on the bridge. Judy ran over and found him fast asleep.
“Uncle Moose! Moose!”
Moose gasped and turned back to Judy. He seemed surprised that someone had woken him up.
“What?!” he asked.
“Dad and Daddy need your help to fix the Ghost. You know we've broken down, don't you?”
“Do your dads know that I suck at mechanics?”
“You're part of the crew, Uncle Moose, and no, you don't suck at mechanics, so stop trying to make me believe it. And I don't think you really have a choice.”
Moose laughed. Actually, Judy was right. If Art and Sly called him, he had to come. That was the way it was. He patted his niece affectionately on the shoulder and ran to the engine room. Judy smiled and took her uncle's place on the bridge. A few minutes later, the intercom buzzed in her ear.
“Judy! Don't take Moose's place, we need extra hands!” exclaimed Sly.
“Argh, that's a pleasure, I just lost an eardrum… Coming through!”
Judy laughed again. Moose was right, when someone like Sly or Art called, you had to go. Over the next few hours, the little family tried to restart their ship, but in vain, the malfunction persisted. Art began to wonder if it was more than a simple malfunction. They left Judy to rest in her quarters and the three of them discussed their next move.
“We've tried everything, Art, but even the reboot hasn't restarted the Ghost,” said Moose.
“What can we do? We can't stay here forever.”
“Land?” suggested Sly.
“Are you out of your mind? Landing and taking the risk of not taking off again? And I'd never land on Freya, this planet is cursed.”
“Art, calm down. It's just a planet.”
“You know very well, it's not just a planet. We should never have come here, it was a mistake,” Art said, looking at Moose.
“Don't look at me like that, Arty, you agreed. When I said no to going, you said the opposite.”
“I know, I know… Okay, let's pull ourselves together and figure out a way to get the Ghost up and running again. The life-support systems are functional, so the problem lies elsewhere.”
“The reactor?”
“I'll go and take a look!” says Sly.
Moose and Art found themselves alone, and silence settled in. The two brothers, three years apart, looked very much alike. Emerald-green eyes sparkling with curiosity and fear, short brown hair, there was virtually nothing to distinguish them from each other. So they already knew what the other was thinking about this situation, a terrible thought. The planet is cursed, that was what Art had said, and Moose believed it too. After all, no one had come back since …
<< UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT ALERT NEARBY >>
Moose didn't have time to finish his thought as the alarm went off, the radar was detecting something. He glanced at Art, and they took off running towards the bridge. Sly caught up with them, followed by Judy.
“What's going on?” she asked worriedly.
“The radar is picking up something,” said Moose, “but I can't see anything out there.”
<< UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT ALERT NEARBY >>
Moose and Sly pressed themselves against the bridge glass, but there was still nothing but the interstellar void and the inevitable Freya. They were all beginning to worry. Moose met Sly's gaze and saw the same gleam in his eyes, as if he too knew what was going on.
“Then the radar is wrong!”
“No, Judy, the radar is never wrong. Moose, go to the engine room and wait for my orders. Sly, get ready to pull the lever. Judy, get ready to lock down the reactor room. We've got to get out of here as soon as possible.”
Everyone obeyed, but just as everyone reached their goal, the lights went out, and the alarm echoed through the cabin. The east airlock opened.
Judy, looking for her fathers and uncle, ran into the cabin, covering her ears. The alarm sounded louder and louder, but as she passed one of the windows, something caught her eye. Freya.
This was the first time they'd been here. No one had ever ventured into this part of the galaxy, not anymore. She didn't understand why Art and Moose had been furious when Sly had proposed traveling to Freya, and she didn't understand why they'd argued about it either. But Art and Moose had finally agreed, and everything was back to normal. Still, something wasn't right. The blackout, then the radar detecting an object that didn't exist, the lights going out, and now the alarm going crazy… it had all started the moment they'd arrived here. But Judy couldn't work out where the feeling had come from, why the sudden sight, out of the corner of her eye, of Freya terrorized her…
Suddenly, she saw them, hundreds of phantom ships wandering through gravity. Every one of them had finally died. She stepped away from the glass, her heart pounding, as if this gesture would save her from Freya.
“Judy!” shouted Art into the intercom. “Judy, where are you?!”
“North corridor, view of Freya, she replied, trying to cover the hubbub caused by the alarm. Dad, what's going on?! Dad?!”
“East airlock! Hurry!” ordered Sly.
Moose was the first to reach the east airlock. No one can activate it remotely, no one, except … He knew what he had to do. He was ready for anything, as long as she let them go in peace. He entered the airlock, which closed automatically. There was only one lever inside, the one that opened the door to the outside. Art, Sly, and Judy arrived at that moment.
“She won't let us go, you know that as well as I do, Arty.”
“Moose, please open the hatch, let us in!” he cried, banging on the glass.
“Uncle Moose, please come back!”
“You know I'll do anything to save you, darling,” he said, addressing Judy. “Don't forget you're fantastic.”
“Moose, open up, don't be silly, come on!”
“Sly, I'm not fooling around. Boy, that's the first time I've ever been serious. You're my family, and I'd do anything to save you. And that's the only way she'll let you go. The legends are true. The planet is cursed, I'd even say alive…”
A sepulchral silence pervaded the space. Art and Judy were glued to the airlock window, and Sly was doing everything he could to open it, but the slightest slip and Moose would end up in the abyss. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Seeing himself so useless, Sly joined his husband and daughter in front of the icy glass. He knew it too. From the moment the ship had broken down, he'd known what they'd have to do… The time had come.
“I love you, don't be afraid. After this, you can leave,” he said confidently. “Freya demands a sacrifice.”
And Moose pushed the lever. He was sucked into the vacuum of space, leaving his family crying and screaming in horror, unable to take their eyes off him.
“LIAM!!!” screamed Art.
The Ghost came back to life.
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