" 'Spirit' Among Us"

[OdileCondacin 0]

Nestled in the far back corner of the Science Lab, a Xenexian sat, boots still perched on her chief's desk. She looked over a few padds with information on the various ships they'd been intercepting, finally getting her heart rate back to a level of normalcy. Spooks and goblins... belonged back home in tales used to frighten children into obedience, not her ship.

 

Suddenly, from behind her came a familiar voice. “Spooks and goblins are a child's fantasy. I am Shadow. I am friend.”

 

She looked up, startled, face growing pale yet again. "Friend. Right, I think I got that the first time," she muttered, debating whether to call down the kitty or whether to try to handle "Shadow" on her own.

 

He had materialized into an awkward imitation of a science officer and stood still, as though he were trying to keep her from alarm. His voice was somewhat chilling, and Odile struggled to control herself as she interacted with him. "There is much I need to learn about biological beings. I have been in the holodeck, learning to assimilate. However, the knowledge of those holodeck beings is limited. You, on the other hand, are one who studies what they call science."

 

Assimilate. Now there was a nice, friendly term. "Yes, I'm a scientist," she conceded, volunteering nothing else. It didn't exist. Just didn't exist. So how was she talking to it? Mass hallucination. And now she was suffering from it, too.

 

"Then, you could help me understand biologicals?"

 

"Could, yes. Will, no. My job description doesn't mention having to deal with figments of the imagination."

 

"Figments of the imagination are not reality. I am reality. You are reality. Please explain."

 

She blinked a few times, surprised. "So you do... you are alive, then?" Her hypothesis wasn't holding up the way she would have liked it to. Usually hallucinations weren't that... independently sentient, so to speak?

 

"I am not alive in the way you are alive. You are biological. I exist. I am."

 

She leaned forward, taking her feet of Kroells' desk. "So you're purporting to be an energy being?"

 

Here Shadow paused in thought, as though he were puzzling out a reply. He seemed to be struggling, deciding whether to give more explanation or to accept Odile’s interpretation. Finally he said simply, "I am an energy being."

 

"All right, that's a start." She looked off to one side, blowing a small bit of air out of her mouth. "So, where do you come from? A planet of energy beings?" Give us the address, and we'll gladly take you home, she thought, smirking slightly.

 

"We exist. All places. All times. We have no planet," he stated quite flatly, quickly losing his ability to maintain his form.

 

This time she managed not to shriek, though her eyes widened considerably. "Riddles, Shadow?"

 

"Riddles?" he managed to say before fading even more. "Please explain."

 

"Ideas with cloaked meanings, meant to confuse. Which is what you're doing, right? Attempting to confuse?" she asked, her voice low to belie the tremble it carried.

 

"Confuse. No." His voice weakened with his presence and, as he lost cohesion he also lost the ability to control his voice, which descended into hollowness reminiscent of ghouls. "Friend," was all he could manage before fading completely away.

 

With a sigh, she leaned her chin on a hand, shaking her head slightly. "All right, I suppose I can take that for now. 'Friend' ghost."