"These are mainly the copies of physical files from the cases right?" Sophie came over, interrupting mine and Riowyn's silent reveries as she looked over the folder Riowyn had been showing us.
Riowyn nodded. "Yeah, pretty much all the technical data and statistics, theories, that kind of thing, is kept online. It's easier that way. I keep that on my data logger at work. Speaking of, I do need to head into work at some point today. You two can come along and I can show you. I don't know what it is, but you guys were all wrapped up on that thing on Flauraan and you witnessed this attack, so I guess you might be important. Besides, you're giving my story the time of day, so that's always nice. I'll just grab my things and we can go."
Sophie and I murmured our assent as Riowyn moved away from us, gathering up her stuff. Briefly, my best friend caught my eye and looked away. I could tell what she was thinking. Riowyn was right. It was uncanny us both being involved in not just one but both of these incidents, and although the first incident could be explained simply by circumstance, for this one, I wasn't so sure. How had Sophie and I managed to witness a ghost just moments before an attack happened? Why had we both been having nightmares the night before? What did these ghosts have to do with us, if anything? These were minor things but I could understand Riowyn's decision to involve us in this.
Once she was ready, we followed her out the door and downstairs, out into the street, and matched her purposeful stride as she led us toward's a reporter's workplace. I could guess that it would at least be within walking distance, considering her apartment and her dedication to her work. Convenience was key, even in sprawling cities such as those that Halapatov boasted. As we walked, Riowyn turned to us once more.
"So it's not just me who is looking into this," she explained, and Sophie's eyebrows rose thoughtfully. "People have been noticing these things and trying to figure out why they're here, and how to stop them, for years now. There's a whole community of us, some people just like me and even some scientists who are searching for a scientific explanation of the ghosts. We all communicate and share findings on a database someone created a few years back. It's helpful, feels like we're not going up against this alone." She looked at Sophie. You've got some scientific background don't you? You're linked to that research ship from Earth. Would you like to have a look at it? There are some parts I don't understand so well."
Sophie smirked, eyes alight. "I'd love to! And I'm sure wording I don't understand, Abi can help me with."
Riowyn nodded. "Sounds good. Nothing's too sure at this stage, these ghosts are apparently difficult to even catch a trace of. It's something to do with staar matter and energy or something, but they've been trying to scan them and it seems like they need very specific circumstances or something. It's odd."
"So there's actually been a fair bit of research done into this?" I asked, brain whirring.
"Yes," Riowyn answered. "To be honest, some people are starting to worry that the ghosts are just a native creature to Halapatov, and that we won't be able to stop them. But we just don't know."
Sophie and I both made low humming noises in agreement, then glanced at each other, our muted expressions turning to smirks at our simultaneous response. Riowyn managed a small smile too, but then the moment slipped away and we continued in silence, Riowyn's solemn words hitting me fully. We won't be able to stop them. And since Sophie and I had arrived, the attacks were becoming more frequent. What were we going to do?
After a good many blocks of walking, we were greeted with a high-rise building with a large sign adorning it, an apparent news corporation.
"This is it." Riowyn gestured unnecessarily, and then led us through revolving doors. She briefly talked to someone at the front before heading upstairs. Sophie and I followed, silent, both taking things in and still thinking, thinking.
We entered a room abuzz with movement. There were a multitude of desks holding stationary and devices, and a fair few people, journalists, reporters, passing around files, exchanging research details, writing to meet deadlines, using technology, all of it quite unorganized but what could I expect, this wasn't Flauraan. Organization was not necessarily considered integral to efficiency.
A few people turned and raised their eyebrows at the arrival of two unknown aliens in their midst, and I could tell from their expressions that the fact that we were with Riowyn didn't help. I couldn't really understand why. She seemed to exasperate them, but she was also nice and a good reporter, as evidenced by her extensive research, so why would they not like her? Leila crossed my mind in an instant, so I gave an imperceptible shake of my head and chose to move on from that topic.
Relationships were often faulty constructs. No point dwelling on it.
Riowyn ignored the somewhat irritated stares of her coworkers and led us to her small desk on the far side of the room. It was cluttered, but I could sense some sort of order in the way items had been placed on the desk, as if Riowyn was organised but not neat. I could understand that. My brain felt like an ordered mess at times.
She placed her things down on the table and picked up the device which lay to the side of a small stack of papers. Opening a communication application on the device, she leaned closer to where Sophie and I stood and proffered us the device.
Looking at the screen as Sophie took the device, I saw what could be described as a 'blog', a page with numerous articles and discussions pertaining to ghosts, on a closed site. Opening one particular thread we were greeted with an incredibly blurry picture of a ghost, but unmistakably a ghost.
Sophie gasped. "That looks so.... I never thought it'd look so real."
I raised an eyebrow, remembering that Sophie had not had the privilege of seeing the ghost before the attack had happened. To me the picture was barely real compared to the sharp, distinct, eerie image of the spirit I'd seen, a gathering of softly shimmering particles in a human form. Hopefully Sophie would never see one. It wasn't quite scary, merely, unsettling. At least, it unsettled me how alluring the ghost seemed, and just like Riowyn had said, they drew people in and those people died. They were certainly very very bad news.
Sophie flicked quickly over the article, which was a discussion of the shape and psychology of the ghosts, and searched through articles until she saw one with statistics and graphs, clicking on it with a grin.
"This is more my kind of thing." She stated, and I smiled, thinking of the incredible wealth of research she'd put together with lots of statistical and graphical data on the Staarus system.
We looked at the first string of numbers; a predicted composition of the common ghost, obtained through scanning of scenes of ghost attacks in the ten minutes post the discovery.
"Staar matter," Sophie murmured, and I nodded silently. "That makes sense. That and dust particles, other incidental stuff that helps pull structure. And so much trace energy. But where does the energy come from?"
"It's almost like a display of halapatovian powers," I commented, and Sophie and Riowyn both looked at me expectantly as I continued. "Well, an extremely powerful halapatovian may be able to gather staar matter particles into a coherent humanoid shape, with a lot of concentration, and use the resulting energy to affect other people, possibly leeching them of their own metabolic energy, which would cause the paleness of the victims..."
Riowyn shook her head. "I've seen many people come up with theories like that, it just doesn't make sense, it would take an immense amount of power that can't be sustained by a biological body. Some bypass machine or something would be needed to even reach those levels, or an external force. It just- it doesn't make sense. So much research has gone into this, and there's still no solid conclusion."
Sophie made a thoughtful noise that caught in her throat. She coughed to clear it and said weakly. "An external force? Some of the research here has been theorising about the astral plane. That seems... yeah. Likely."
The tone of her voice worried me and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, noticing her gaze on me, and realising that she was referring to something specific. The astral plane.... My brain sifted through past conversations of mine and Sophie's and the obvious answer, as little as I knew about the actual complexities of the technology, drew my eye to the teleport watch. I glanced up at her again with alarm, and she returned my wide eyed expression, concern evident on her features.
Riowyn cleared her throat as well. "What?"
I bit my lip. "I don't know. There's lots of possibilities. The existence of some intelligent power on the astral plane is just as plausible as any theory."
"Oh." Riowyn responded, not expecting that answer. I wasn't sure me and Sophie should mention anything about our little detour during our teleport trip; it could be a red herring, and following it up could very easily start a wild goose chase. We needed to focus on actual research and evidence.
Riowyn sat at her desk, flicking hurriedly through her notes. She was jittering with agitation and Sophie and I exchanged a glance. Before either of us could voice our concerns, though, she lifted a hand, seemingly absent-mindedly, to a glass ball that rested beside her keys and lifted it into the air.
My eyes widened as the ball rose slowly, gracefully, unsupported by anything. Light shone through it from the window and refracted across the room in stunning patterns momentarily, and Sophie gave an audible gasp of awe as Riowyn reflexively hovered it up and down with one hand, her attention still on her research.
I was genuinely impressed. On Flauraan, I'd met Halapatovians, of course, but I'd forgotten that their powers were much stronger here, supported by the forces of the planet's core. To be honest, it was just amazing to meet an ordinary person who could do something akin to what I could do.
I felt inclined by this display so I reached out, and with a moment of concentration I stopped the ball in its tracks, holding it stagnant in the air.
Shocked by its faltering, Riowyn's head shot up and her mouth widened at the sight of me, hand outstretched, focussing on the glass ball.
"Oh my gosh, that's amazing!" she gasped and a grin spread across my face. "I didn't realise... paladanians could do that?"
"Just me, I think," I replied.
"The reports on that flauraan incident said you were special," she said, excitedly. "But I can't believe-"
"MISS RIOWYN!" an annoyed voice rang out across the room and we all turned to see an irritated aandrigian woman with her hair drawn back in a taut ponytail and holding an overflowing clipboard looking in our direction. "As much as you might like to believe otherwise, your job is not a social outlet. Please direct your friends offsite and get to work. I have at least three reports you need finished by midday."
"Yes, of course." Riowyn replied nervously, then turned to us sheepishly. "I guess we can discuss powers later. If you two still want to help, you can come back to my apartment tonight, I'll make dinner, we can talk through everything, what you guys know."
I glanced at Sophie and we both nodded, before making our way off with tight smiles at Riowyn. She turned half-heartedly to her boss and set to work.
Sophie and I wandered back onto the street, our duo alone once more and able to exchange comments without incorporating Riowyn. Even though Sophie couldn't hear my thoughts, I felt bad for my phrasing and sought to rectify myself.
"She's really nice." I commented truthfully, and Sophie nodded.
"And really good at her research. I can't imagine being able to put all those files together like that." She replied, thoughts clearly still on the case. She shook her head. "I don't know what to think. These ghosts.... How do we keep ending up in these situations Abi? Well I guess not we, mainly me... Sometimes I feel like I attract trouble wherever I go. Flauraan, Zegrafa, Awy, Shalron...." She trailed off, looking off into the distance with her jaw held tight.
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight. "Riowyn's right." I said softly. "It's not us, it's not your fault at all."
She squeezed my hand back so tightly I almost lost feeling. "I know. I just... I dunno."
"I think this is messing with our brains." I finally voiced, and Sophie fixed her gaze with a raised eyebrow. "Like, the ghosts. Neither of us have been sleeping well, and having nightmares, and just generally being unsettled. I don't know why. It's the only thing that makes sense."
Sophie twitched. "Maybe."
"Hmm."
We walked together in silence a bit longer. Eventually Sophie seemed to jerk out of deep thought and look around us.
"So where are we going then?"
I looked around idly at the streets of Halapatov, just a plain residential area.
"I don't really know. It's past midday. Should we go get lunch or something?" I asked.
"Sounds good." Sophie said, then pointed to a street to the left of us. "I think I know a place somewhere this way."
So we made our way to a store and bought a few pastries for lunch. We idled an hour or so.
On our way back to where we were staying, I saw a check-in point and knew I would need to make sure I contacted mum so that she wouldn't worry about me. I didn't know what to tell her. Should I mention the ghosts? In reality we weren't in any danger, so it might be better not to let her know, and then she wouldn't be needlessly worrying. She was already concerned enough about what little I'd told her about my visit with Leila. I decided. I would tell her minimum of anything that had been happening. It would be okay. Sophie and I would be going home soon in any case. Our plans for this week had been tweaked a bit, but that was okay. This was okay. I wished I could tell myself that more convincingly...
"I'm just gonna call mum, I'll be quick." I told Sophie and she nodded and waited while I headed over to the check-in point.
Mum answered after a few rings. "Hello Abigail, you're calling early. How are you?"
"Hi mum," I replied. "I'm pretty good. Sophie and I have just been hanging out, thinking about our precise plans for the next few days, so I figured I'd make sure I called."
"Oh alright," she said. I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm so excited for you to be home soon. You probably won't want to leave Halapatov though will you?"
I laughed. "It is pretty great here. But I'll be happy to be home."
Mum made a pleased noise. "I can't wait to hear all you've been doing in more detail."
When you find out we've gotten ourselves involved in a murder case you won't be so happy, I thought, but all I said was, "Yeah, I have some pretty good stories. It's been so wonderful being here."
"Well that's good. I'm glad you're not too upset about what happened with Leila. I'm still quite shocked at all that."
I shrugged. "Oh well, things all worked out. Like I said, we're still gonna keep in contact. It was surprising though."
After exchanging a few more heavily considered comments my mother and I ended the call and I walked back over to where Sophie was waiting. She gave me a small smile. "Did you tell her?"
"No," I shook my head. "We know so little; there's no point worrying her."
Sophie nodded, understanding, and then we continued on our journey back home.
Back in our room, I lay on the floor and thought, brain whirring with all that I'd learnt in the past day. Sophie sat fiddling with her teleport watch and scanner, looking through the backlog from the past month. She was trying to find out as much as she could about our diversion from when we first came to Halapatov. She was so sure that meant something, especially since she'd seen that research about the astral plane. I didn't know. If it was related though, it could mean a breakthrough. The teleport watch was an advanced piece of technology, and its interaction with the ghosts could be vital to understanding how they worked. I just hoped that we would be able to help in some way.
After a while she gave up on that, saying that she couldn't find anything conclusive yet. We talked for a bit, and then, noticing the time, we decided to walk back to Riowyn's house, where we'd be able to do some actual constructive discussion.
We knocked on her door and she opened it with a smile. "Hi Sophie, hey Abigail. I'm just cooking dinner. Come in."
We entered the room to a lovely smell. Having come to a part of Halapatov that was experiencing colder weather, Riowyn was cooking a stew, and she returned to the pot on the stove and continued stirring it, adding in a bit of spice as well.
"How was working?" Sophie asked, standing behind the bench across from her.
Riowyn shrugged. "It was alright; got some reports done, and had some time to see the updates on last night's attack. The investigation case file got released so I printed that out. It's over there." She gestured over to where her bag lay open with her device and folder from work in the top of it.
I moved over and picked up the files, rifling through it to see the victim of the attack. I stared at the photo that had been released, he looked so much paler than when Sophie and I had seen him. It shared all the symptoms with the other cases. It was all so horrifying.
Silently I passed the file to Sophie, who looked over it just as solemnly.
After a long bout of silence as Riowyn alternated between stirring and all the other small details of cooking, she started conversation, flicking her eyes at us curiously.
"So what brought you two to Halapatov hey?" she asked. "I still find it so surprising that you're here, involved in something yet again. It's only been, what two month, since that treaty with the humans?"
"Less." I responded, and sighed. "We actually decided to come here on a holiday. Sophie has been doing lots of research into the Staarus System and she knew I wanted to come to Halapatov and so she organised for us to come here for a few weeks."
"Oh alright," she seemed surprised. Riowyn probably expected us to have found something out that caused us to come. But no, of course our involvement was incidental. Naturally.
"Although," Sophie spoke up, hand resting on her chin. "When we arrived, by teleport watch of course, which is the way I've been travelling for a bit now, there was this really weird thing that happened. The teleport watch sends us sort of through the astral plane, and there was an attraction or a collision or something that happened as we reached Halapatov's part of space and knocked us off course, so that we ended up in a completely different place to where we were meant to go." Riowyn's eyebrows rose inquisitively. "I mean, it could be the ghosts. There's all those theories about them being astral projections, and something like that could super easily have increased whatever connection the ghosts have with halapatov."
"Maybe." Riowyn said thoughtfully. "That would make sense."
I looked at them both, deep in thought. I wondered how helpful me and Sophie would actually be with this. Riowyn seemed hopeful at least. I didn't know. The teleport watch was good technology, sure, but was it really superior to what scientists and researcher's on halapatov had access to? Would our little detour really have any impact on the research into hundreds of years of ghosts?
Sophie glanced at me after a moment. "You don't think it means anything, do you?"
"I don't know." I admitted.
Riowyn looked at me, still stirring. "Abigail, it's something new. For years all the evidence we've had is dead bodies and scans of the places where they died. I mean, barely anyone has even seen the ghosts and lived, but you did. And no one's ever done any experiments on the astral plane, because it's all so unclear, but you two have been through it! That's crazy. There's something special about you guys."
She looked at us admiringly for a moment and Sophie swelled a little with pride before glancing down at her wrist. "Well, it's the teleport watch but yeah."
"Yeah." Riowyn replied with a smile, and then stepped back from the pot of stew and turned off the heat. "Can you get three bowls out of that cupboard there?"
We both nodded and moved to the door she indicated, where we removed three bowls from the four there and placed them in front of her. She ladled stew into each and we thanked her and took a bowl and each of us sat down and began to eat. It was delicious. Riowyn sure knew how to cook. Sophie and I were in the middle of praising Riowyn's culinary expertise when her device made a short piercing noise from its place on the table where it had been sat. Alarm flickered on Riowyn's features and she pushed back her chair and strode urgently to the table.
"What?" Sophie asked concernedly.
"I set this to go off when any urgent new report came up, as in, ghost attacks." She said, looking terrified, voice quivering intermittently.
"Oh." I said, and Sophie and I both stood up and crossed to her.
"Two in two days, that's.... that's never happened before." Riowyn's voice was almost a whisper. She looked so scared.
Sophie and I locked eyes. Is this because of us?
"Last night's was close and I didn't act. We need to go now. We'll catch a train and be there in less than an hour. Come on, grab your things. Sophie we might be able to use your teleport watch and your scanner. There's'a possibility we may be able to find something out." Riowyn said quickly, moving in haste.
So we gathered together what little we needed and Riowyn charged out the door, with us following. Anxiously, we headed to the station and caught a high-speed transport. Throughout the journey, Riowyn eyed us warily. I could understand why. Two incidents so close together in time and distance was very suspicious indeed, and occurring directly after Sophie and I had both turned up and confessed to a possible connection to the ghosts through the teleport watch, and now people were in danger. I knew it wasn't our fault but I felt like an idiot. We should've done something the moment we were detoured. We should've realised the connection. My heart had sunk to the base of my self, and I was weighed down with guilt. Darkness engulfed my thoughts. I could tell Sophie felt bad too. Her head was down and she wasn't even fidgeting now, just staring at the floor as we moved at high speeds across the country.
Hopefully we were about to find out more about the ghosts though, as terrifying and heart-wrenching this whole ordeal was. Hopefully we'd be able to do something to stop people from dying.