WalkingHaunt Read online

  “Why then?”

  “School is expensive, and my mother sensed that I would be a Haunt. Educating a Haunt is extremely costly, and she couldn’t do more than she already was.”

  “You didn’t get to spend much time with her?”

  Yoh chuckled. “I spent every evening with her as she did the books for one company after another. I brought her water, tea and cookies, and we had tea parties on scheduled breaks. It wasn’t the standard upbringing, but we got by, and once the money arrived, she still worked but it was because she wanted to, not because she had to. It was a good lesson.”

  “What was?”

  “If everything was taken from us, we could start over together and still make a go of it. We could build from nothing, because we never forgot how to work.”

  He went silent as he digested what she had said, and he turned back to the stars that elongated as they passed.

  Shrugging, Yohwen did the same and admitted that it was a view worth looking at.

  Chapter Four

  “They named it Raven Touch.” Orkill showed her the world as they glided toward the glowing clouds that surrounded it.

  Yoh felt the waves of energy being put out by the exterior shell of the world. “Definitely Ysheer here. There are a lot of them.”

  Tears started to trickle down her face, and she turned away from Orkill’s curious gaze.

  “What is it?”

  “So many children. I am not used to feeling so many children.” She got up and moved to the back of the shuttle.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I am getting ready to find someone who can tell us what happened here.” She exited the cockpit and headed for Healer Debarren.

  He looked up from his deep conversation with Niisa. “Can I help you?”

  “Show me those boots.”

  He jerked and got to his feet.

  Niisa frowned. “What is it, Yoh?”

  “Kids, Niis. Thousands of kids.”

  Niisa paled and got up to follow her.

  Debarren opened the storage box, and he pulled out a parcel marked in case of emergency apply feet. He snorted and opened the package, careful not to touch the objects inside.

  “Here. Sit, remove your boots and put these on.”

  The boots in question were lovely but not practical for running around in the kind of job described to her. “These are…”

  Debarren chuckled. “Just slide them on. They will do the rest.”

  Yohwen settled on a nearby box of supplies. She tugged off her boots and reluctantly reached for the Masuo. The right boot went on, and she felt a peculiar clasping and release as the surface conformed to her leg. “Weird.”

  Debarren smiled, “Now, the other one.”

  The second boot went on, and to her surprise, they shifted into replicas of the boots she had just been wearing.

  She wriggled her toes, and the Masuo moved with her.

  Niisa watched and smiled slightly. “I want some.”

  Debarren inclined his head. “I will see what I can do.”

  Yoh looked at her friend in surprise. It seemed a courtship of sorts had begun. It was about time. Niisa couldn’t put her life on hold because of Yohwen. She needed a little love in her life. Yoh had her gran and the souls she pulled in. Niisa needed more.

  Yoh loved having her best friend with her, but all things had to come to an end sometime. Mind you, a relationship with a man who spent his time in the stars would probably not go over well with Niisa’s mother.

  Yohwen got to her feet and imagined contact with the deck plates. The cool metal was touching her an instant later. “Excellent. These will work fine.”

  Debarren peeled off his Healer robes and grabbed a suit with its own air supply. “This suit will protect you from anything airborne. The greatest danger is that the pathogen was designed for your race. That will mean that a simple puncture might have you sharing their fate. You need to be careful, and you ladies need to stay safe. The suits can only do half the work, you have to not be stupid.”

  Yohwen laughed. “That is very succinct. Don’t be stupid. Excellent. Do the suits go on over our clothes?”

  “They do, but not over that jacket.” He held the suit patiently while she took her jacket off, exposing the lacy top underneath.

  She folded the jacket and put it on the box next to her then looked at the boots in consternation. “What do I do with the boots?”

  As she asked the question, they moved and formed fitted half-socks over her feet. Smiling in delight, she stepped into the thick suit and started to tug it up her body while Niisa got into her own with Debarren’s help.

  “We are entering the atmosphere. Grab hold of something.” Orkill’s voice came through the sides of Debarren’s collar.

  Yohwen grabbed a strap in the cargo area.

  Niisa grabbed Debarren, much to his surprise and delight.

  Debarren gripped a strap, and the ship shuddered as it dropped into the atmosphere of Raven Touch.

  Niisa seemed content to use him as a balance point as the ship shuddered through the different layers of the sky.

  Yoh rocked and twisted with each shift of the metal beneath her. The helmet on the back of her suit smacked her during a few violent shifts, but then, the motion evened out and they were making progress through silent skies.

  She finished sealing the suit and waited while Debarren went over the specifics of working the atmospheric filters on the costume she had been given.

  “Touching down. The Guardsmen are waiting.”

  Orkill spoke through Debarren’s suit again.

  Yoh asked, “Doesn’t that get annoying?”

  Debarren chuckled. “No worse than him being here in person.”

  “I can hear you, Debarren.” Orkill’s voice was wry.

  “I know, Orkill. Are we down?”

  “Yes. Seal up, I will be there in a moment.”

  Healer Debarren sealed Yohwen’s helmet first, and she took a few deep breaths before nodding to Niisa.

  Her friend let the Healer seal her up, and he quickly grabbed another helmet that sealed itself to his bodysuit without an additional layer. Yohwen looked at him accusingly and he grinned. “The bonus of being with the Citadel.”

  She wanted to snort, but she was in a bubble and wasn’t in the mood to stare at anything that would fly out of her head if she did.

  Orkill arrived, and he put on his own helmet that sealed itself to the formfitting bodysuit that was all he was wearing.

  Yohwen tried to keep her appraisal of him unemotional, but she had to admit, there was no room for underwear in that suit, but he had packed in plenty of muscle. Looking at him with admiration was unavoidable, but she kept it to herself and only peeked when he turned away.

  “What are we waiting for?” She asked.

  “The Sector Guard. Stellar Storm is outside, and she is setting up an air lock. That will keep this shuttle from being contaminated.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “Makes sense.”

  The sound of a fist banging on the hull got their attention.

  Debarren walked to the door. “I think we are ready.”

  The door opened with a hiss, and they walked out to a plexi room attached with accordion seals. A woman was seated with a pleasant expression on her face. “Welcome to Raven Touch.”

  Scorcher Orkill made the introductions. “Stellar Storm, this is the Haunt we hired. Yohwen Dahl and her assistant Niisa Tehart. They are here to help us question the dead.”

  Stellar Storm nodded and got to her feet. “Pleased to meet you, ladies. I don’t know how you are going to question the dead, but Scorcher Orkill says it can be done, and I am willing to suspend disbelief.”

  “Thank you for your faith in my abilities. When does the sun set?”

  Stellar Storm frowned and looked up. “About an hour. Why?”

  “Because, I need to get where you want me to bring the dead. They will be visible in the darkness, and you will be able to hear them
, but I need to be in the correct area, or I will haunt several hundred minds at a time and you will have to pick through them. That will take a while.”

  Stellar Storm blinked. “Well, we have identified the location of a research facility. Someone there may have an idea of what happened.”

  Orkill asked, “Has it been cleansed?”

  “I believe so. We can check when we arrive.”

  Yohwen said, “Then, we should get where we are going to stage before sundown, so we have the most time with the dead.”

  Stellar Storm led the way. Their party loaded onto a standing skimmer, and the entire flying platform lifted off and zipped along the surface at a nauseating speed.

  Yohwen kept an eye on the light in the distance and felt the pressure of the population of an entire world that wanted to be heard. She could bring them down one by one or even by the dozen, but there was no way she could let them all speak.

  On Wedderal, the ancestors stayed for about two hundred years, educated the current generation and left knowing that they had done what they could. After that, the souls joined the rings of the fifth planet in the system, Sodderal, and bonded into one mind that sang to the cosmos. No Ysheer truly died, they merely evolved into an energy being that could hear and join the songs of the stars.

  Stellar Storm parked the skimmer in the centre of a city marked by fire.

  Yohwen looked to Orkill, “Your handiwork?”

  “Possibly. I burned two cities, but this one does not look familiar.” He shrugged.

  Yoh turned to Stellar Storm. “Is there anywhere a little more remote than this?”

  “This was the main research facility. The clues will be here if you can truly bring the victims back.”

  Yoh winced. “This is going to hurt.”

  Niisa stood at her side. “I will be here for you.”

  “Thanks, but there are about to be a lot of people here really fast. The sun is coming down.”

  Yohwen stepped away from her group, and the Masuo thinned to let her feet feel the stone and pavement under her. She had worked through pavement before, but it took more out of her. She looked around and found a space that had once been green and now was charred black. It would do.

  Her body sighed in relief when contact with the planet was established. The fading light winked into light darkness, and she looked up and called the soul of Raven Touch home.

  Chapter Five

  Niisa had to explain to the Alliance personnel how to speak to the Ysheer. Once they had the idea, they pursued the inquiries with surprising skill.

  Stellar Storm came to stand beside Yoh, and she nodded. “Now, I get it. This is your talent.”

  Yoh answered quietly, “One in a hundred thousand on my world can do this, all with varying degrees of success.”

  “Does it take a lot of concentration?”

  “Not once it has begun. The concentration comes with starting it up.” Yoh watched the lines of spectres waiting their turns to speak to Orkill and Debarren.

  “How long can you keep it up?”

  “Hours. Why?”

  “I am summoning other researchers, and they will want to learn what the doctors here have to offer them. That means you will have to keep this up for at least an hour.”

  “I can hold it until dawn. Call a freaking warship for all I care. Just do it, because I will have to sleep the day away.” Yohwen stared out and watched the expanding arrival of Ysheer who all waited their turn to speak to the two Citadel staffers and Niisa.

  It was the beginning of a very long night.

  When Niisa finally gripped her arm and said, “Enough. You have brought enough for today. Tomorrow, we will start again. Come on.”

  She was shepherded into the skimmer and returned to the airlock, and after a cleansing blast of light and air, she was allowed into the shuttle.

  Orkill moved ahead of her, and he showed her a guestroom with two bunks.

  Niisa helped her out of the biohazard suit and tucked her into a bunk. She kept Yohwen awake until she had consumed a glass of water and some ration crackers.

  Exhaustion took over, and Yohwen was down for the count.

  * * * *

  Niisa rubbed the back of her neck as she left Yohwen to sleep off the efforts of the night.

  Debarren looked at her features, and he scowled. “You look exhausted.”

  “Oh, I am, but I am well rested compared to her. I will get some dry rations and water to set by her bedside and then get some rest so I can beat her to rising.”

  “Why? Why do you work for her?” He followed her as she rummaged through the small galley.

  “Because, she sees things that I don’t, and she is a friend. She needs me and that has always been the driving desire of my own personality. I love to be needed.” Niisa chuckled as she brought out more ration crackers and a few bags of water.

  “There is more to it than that.” He leaned against the edge of the galley as she arranged the tray.

  She grinned up at him. “Of course there is. Yohwen is the most caring, loyal and devoted friend you could have once you move past the needs of her status as Haunt. She has called my relatives for every family party she has attended and asked nothing in return. Let me tell you, the Haunts on Wedderal do not come cheap. She didn’t even think to ask for compensation.”

  “Is that worth a lifetime of service?”

  Niisa laughed at him. “Do you really think it is service? I enjoy bossing her around, and we enjoy spending time together. Living a life where I can spend every day with my best friend is a blessing. I choose when she works and how she works. She may have the talent, but I decide where she uses it.”

  “Doesn’t she mind?”

  “Nope. She just wants to help re-join families when she can. Hers was shattered before she even arrived. Her greatest desire is to bring joy and peace.”

  Debarren pulled out a piece of fruit and gnawed on it. “Why did she agree to come to a dead world then?”

  Niisa laughed. “You really haven’t gotten it, have you? She came here for me. It is my dream to see the stars. She couldn’t care less.”

  With the Healer staring at her backside, she moved back down the hall and set the tray on the desk near Yohwen’s head. She smoothed the riot of red hair from her friend’s forehead and crept out of the room.

  Orkill had given her the next set of quarters, and she entered the room, setting her chronometer for six hours of sleep. She smiled at the expression on Debarren’s face when she had told him that Yohwen came to the stars for her and not of her own volition. She didn’t think shock could have looked more attractive on anyone else.

  Chuckling, she stripped out of her clothing and folded it neatly at the side of her bed in the order she would need to get dressed in a hurry.

  * * * *

  Debarren confronted Orkill as he made the daily report to Relay.

  “She performed beyond expectation. The dead actually came to us and spoke. They knew what had been going on and pointed toward an underground facility off all of our records.”

  Relay’s voice came through the com. “Do you think she will be interested in joining the Citadel?”

  Debarren tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.

  “I will get back to you on that, Relay. For now, we are making progress.” Orkill quickly wrapped up the call and then turned to face Debarren.

  “What was that about, Debarren?”

  “It isn’t Yohwen you have to convince, it is Niisa. Convince Niisa and Yohwen will follow.”

  Orkill scrubbed at his face. “You are kidding.”

  “I am not. Yohwen has no urge for adventure. She wants to keep her friend happy. Frankly, Niisa is the only family she has, and Niisa, herself, has tons of family, so she won’t leave Wedderal gladly. We need to consider the outpost option.”

  Orkill grinned. “It is a nice world. Bright, friendly people, and they do have a small outpost waiting for us. It would shave time off our transit when we get a call as
well. Could you live there?”

  Debarren grinned in return. “There are certain attractions that will outweigh inconvenience for me.”

  “It is like that, is it?”

  “Whether she admits it or not, she is a powerful diagnostic talent. Nothing I like more than a girl who can list everything that is wrong with me and mean it.” He chuckled.

  Orkill snorted. “Now that she isn’t in that peculiar costume, I have to admit that Yohwen is a very striking young woman, and the power she wields is amazing. She is also the colour of flame, and you know how much I enjoy a good blaze.”

  Debarren laughed. “As a set, they are better than any option that the Citadel has been able to come up with, but I don’t know how easy it will be to get on Yohwen’s good side. She doesn’t seem to have one.”

  Orkill remembered the Haunt’s face as she tried not to watch the souls of children join their parents in the city as she called them all. “I don’t think she is unfeeling, I just think her motivations are different. She does what she does because of how it makes others feel and that gives her her centre. Niisa anchors her to the rest of the world, so we have her to convince.”

  “I will work on that.” Debarren grinned.

  “I bet you will. We have a lead on the source of introduction, by the way. There is a research facility on Raven Touch that isn’t on our maps. It is deep underground, and they are known to do viral and bacterial research. It is quite likely that this was the source of the initial exposure.”

  “I will look into it with the other medical teams. Are you taking Yohwen there tonight?” Debarren raised his eyebrows.

  “I am. I am heading there this afternoon to scorch it so you can bring both ladies there at sunset.”

  Orkill watched the Healer laugh.

  “You know, Orkill, no wonder you have such a problem finding women when this is your ideal of an evening out.”

  “Dating and flirtation can come later, Debarren. Right now, we have to find the source of this infection and determine if any of it is left on Raven Touch. This is a species killer in the right hands.”

  Debarren sobered. “You are correct. I will have them at your location by sunset.”