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the
dark.”
    “ Here … walk toward my
voice.” He waited. “But don’t come all the way. I’m farther than
the supply hold area.”
    Bach felt his way through
the debris following G.R.’s lead, and found the emergency supply
hold. He yanked and pulled on the damaged door to get it open, then
passed his hands over a jumble of objects inside. He knew by the
shape of a handle that he’d found a lantern flashlight, but he
couldn’t free it, so he switched it on to see how to get it out.
Yellow beams jutted at odd angles from beneath the clutter and the
sudden burst of light in absolute blackness momentarily blinded
him. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed something odd. Is my mind playing tricks? The lantern’s beam had the appearance of smoke swirling around
the cabinet. Maybe it’s a G-LOC
effect . When he felt a puff of smoke drift
across his face, he knew it wasn’t his imagination. An uneasy
feeling stirred in his gut, but it came with a tinge of curiosity.
The swirling light rays flickered for a moment, then pulled
together in the center of the cabinet and transformed into a yellow
mass that throbbed in and out like a beating heart. Little by
little, the clustered light formed a three-dimensional sphere
suspended in midair. It took on the shape of a man’s face with
symmetrical features and peculiar copper-colored eyes that shone
with an eerie glow, like a dog’s when a light beam hits them in the
dark. As Bach watched, the irises pulsed in and out with a hypnotic
effect so strong he couldn’t turn away. He grew weaker by the
second, as if his life force were funneling out. He couldn’t stop
it, and he couldn’t speak.
    The otherworldly face’s hypnotic eyes never
wavered as his lips parted and the words, “Follow me,” rolled from
a glistening silver tongue.
    Bach’s heart pounded so
hard the fabric of his jumpsuit moved in and out with each
beat. Keep your head , he told himself. Breathe in,
breathe out.
    “ What are you doing, Bach?”
Deni yelled. “Hurry up! Faith still hasn’t answered.”
    The face dissipated, leaving the
flashlight’s pale beam.
    Bach glanced through the
cabin, eyes searching up and down, side to side. Did the visitor respond to Deni’s voice? “I’m coming!” he yelled back. He didn’t want to,
but he took one last look at the light inside the cabinet. No face
this time. Should I tell the crew? No,
we’ve had enough. No danger apparent; don’t add to the
trepidation. He pulled the lantern from the
debris and for some reason turned it off, then on again to see if
the man’s face would reappear. Nothing. Hoping the others wouldn’t
notice his trembling hands, he wrapped them both around the
flashlight and passed the yellow beam around the ship’s dungeonish
cabin. Visible layers of dust hanging in the air seemed like
something from a horror movie with an overactive fog
machine.
    Kaz scrambled over mounds of trash to Bach’s
side and latched onto his arm.
    The crewmates’ faces reflected their fear as
they got their first look at the disaster’s toll: G.R. in pain on
the floor at aft ship; Bach and Kaz together at mid ship; Deni and
Lynch strapped in their seats in the cockpit, injured; Faith
missing.
    “ Get movin’, Bach,” Deni
yelled, “Find Faith. Be careful where you walk. And, Kaz, we need
your help up front.”
    “ Help me, too,” G.R. said,
his voice weak.
    Bach found a flat piece of shiny metal in
the rubble, propped it up at the mid-ship control center and shone
the lantern on it to intensify the light. He looked around the
cabin and noticed something near the galley area. To get there, he
cleared a footpath and crawled under a portion of dangling ceiling
insulation stretched crosswise across the cabin. Then, all the air
in his lungs expelled at once when he found Faith’s body curled up
and motionless. The others watched as he knelt at her side and felt
for a pulse in her neck. When he rolled her onto her back, her body
flopped over like a