Outpost 37: Things are not as they seem- Chapter One

Before you begin…

Something is wrong on Outpost 37.

What starts as a simple investigation into missing children quickly becomes something far stranger—and far more dangerous—than anyone expected.

Pay attention. Not everything is as it seems.

🎧 Prefer to listen? Youtube reading here- Chapter One

Chapter 1:

I jolted awake as the transport carrier went over a particularly steep bump in the road.

I stretched and groaned. I hadn’t remembered dropping off, and now my mouth tasted like dirt.

Uck.

Well, it might be a rough-around-the-edges colony world, but at least I could get a shower and brush my teeth.

Syntho coffee would have to do for now. I took a long pull from the canister in my hand.

Blech, it tasted a little worse and had gotten cold, but it was better than nothing.

Caffeine acted as a blocker for me when I was around people, and there were plenty on this transport—there were so many thoughts and feelings pouring off of people that it made it hard to function, curse of having extra abilities, I guess—so I was never without it. No wonder I fell asleep with it in my hand.

Everyone here was scared, stressed, and looking for work. Not a fun emotional soup to sit in by any stretch.

The bleariness of sleep faded away, and my mind turned back to the reason I came out here.

I flicked on my comm band and pulled up the news report that had come across the wire two nights ago. I scanned through it again.

This one had caught my eye. Something seemed off about it... the colonists suddenly going mad... the batches of missing kids, and in another report from a smaller news outlet, they mentioned the elderly going missing in batches too. That had started a full month and a half before the bouts of rapid-onset insanity. It didn’t sit right with me.

The report was theorizing a new toxin in the soil, but I really doubted it. I would love to think it was something that innocuous... but I knew better.

I had seen something like this before... well, a few times before. And I had a feeling these folks were in real danger that they were completely unprepared for.

So I was going to look into it. I was officially here to look for work... I learned early that you can’t just walk up to people and ask if their problems are related to the supernatural. Hey folks, seen any ghosts or demons lately?... that is not a good way to go.

So I would look for work, make a few credits, and see if I could find those missing kiddos. And the missing elders... I halfway hoped that they were all together so the kids had somebody to watch after them.

I hoped I was wrong, but my gut instinct screamed it had nothing to do with the soil.

I sighed and clicked off the holographic display of the report. I leaned my head back on the seat’s headrest. It was uncomfortable, hard plascrene, but it would do.

All transport ships and ground vehicles were practically printed out of the stuff to stop bugs, parasites, and vermin from making a home in the vehicles and spreading.

I looked down at my left arm, where Vox was coiled around it. He was nice and warm—that was a plus. He was in low, low power mode... the artificial intelligence version of deep sleep. I ran a finger along his midnight-colored scales. He moved in his sleep, showing off the slight indigo-purple shimmer that went unseen when he was still.

If he was super still, he almost looked like a tattoo up my arm... he had been mistaken for it once or twice.

I smiled.

I had actually stolen him by accident from a scrap heap. Well, his A.I. consciousness anyway. We had fashioned a body for him—his piuck—once he came online. We both figured it would be easier to cart him around this way... and he could also move and hover on his own if I got into trouble.

It was a good deal.

I was always surprised at how warm he stayed. He said it was his power cell venting... I had found the specs and seen that he had built a low heating unit into his body model.

Awww, Vox was seriously the best!

On second thought, I flipped my comm cuff to a livestream of rain on a stream and clicked the link to the implant behind my left ear. It would only project that sound to my ear.

It was how I relaxed and stayed grounded in a crowd.

Leaning back, I checked the time—I still had roughly a two-hour ride to the Outpost 37 waystation.

Judging by the terrain, it was only going to get bumpier. Ehhh, I wouldn’t be sleeping again anyway, my thoughts were too restless.

If I was home, I would have gone for a long walk.

But I was stuck in my seat... so I mentally took a walk.

For about the ten billionth time, I wished that Soren was here. My old mentor would have been able to psychically scan the outpost from his living room and tell what was going on.

He was just that good. Of course, he was pretty old... he had had a lot of time to hone his skills.

I petted Vox’s back.

It’s funny—when I ran into him as a kid... I had no idea Soren was a ghost. It took me a few years to figure it out.

Well, to be fair, I had had my mind on other things... it was after the invasion, and during the years when the six factions that took over Earth were busily negotiating and carving up the planet into their territories.

My fingers went to the amulet around my neck and polished it thoughtfully, an old habit when I got stressed.

Reminiscing on those days made Soren’s absence heavier.

The amulet’s smooth surface always made me feel better. It had been Soren’s first gift to me.

It had been his originally, a long, long time ago.

A simple, smooth, thick amber cabochon set in a simple silver bezel. Baltic amber, he had said.

I shut my eyes with it pressed tightly between my fingers.

Turn the page to Chapter 2 to see what happens next!

Not everything on Outpost 37 is what it seems…