Slom was checking the maps in the captain's quarter when the face of Odacious' figurine appeared in the mirror, "Hey captain, going to switch now, thought you should know" the face turned aside as if looking at something off screen "the gentleman's name is Rick, and you can trust him most of the time"

The face in the mirror blurred and then froze for a few seconds, "Why hello there, nice ship you got here, i especially like the torture chambers"

Slom glared at the mirror "what torture chamber?"

Rick blurred for a second as his concentration on the mirror aparition broke "oops, looks like somone was hiding things from the captain" and he vanished from the mirror.

Slom displayed the ship map and found an area he didnt explore, remembering how the giant rats kept turning him away until he dismissed it being just a small hold and a couple of cabins, now he regretted not checking things further.

With everyone's shift close to its end he knew only a few people would arrange replacements before logging off, if any.

Moving quietly through the silent empty corridors he could hear the planks creacking all around him.

With no giant rats he almost got to the aft hold when he started hearing grunts and cries of pain with some whip cracks and an occasional cane slap, he listened for a few minutes and tried to gather his resolve before dealing with whatever he might find inside.

Leaning against the wall Slom slid silently closer to the open door, while he was thinking what to do he heard words drifting from the room, a booming voice was laughing "damn man i never had so much fun before". 

A lisping answer came "Yeth, this ith greath, how did we get to do dith anyway?".

The booming voice replied "some fella they tortured figured out the ship is out of the system and called us back" a short time later he continued "stupid captain guy doesnt know how to have real fun".

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A woman with a raspy throat added "We gotta log out soon, meet you back here next shift"

Lisper whined "do we have to?"

And Raspy replied "yeah you wont get any credits and they will cut on your recreation time if you stay after hours"

Slom checked his time and noted he had to stay away for at least 20 minutes before everyone takes off so he slithered along the wall until he got to another door and entered that room, finding himself in a food cellar with stacks of barrels and sacks of grains and the floor littered with offline giant rats.

Not wanting to take over or kill the swarm he moved to the next room, finding it empty he tuned his receptors down and let the idle routines make his character walk around the room while he was thinking away the 20 minutes.

Slom could feel the ship emptying, like a wind whispering through the hallways, taking out the mirror he picked from the captain's room he called for Rick, as soon the face blurred in he asked "did everyone log off?" and to rick's nod he moved back to the corridor, the rats were still in their idle routines and he entered the torture chambers with a fluttering heart.

Blood, smeared on the walls, ceiling and floor, arms, legs and other body parts were scattered about the room, three single beds turned to torturing racks had human things tied to them, one man was in idle mode, his belly open and a giant rat dangling above him tied to the ceiling from its tail, its idle routine making it bite at the exposed flesh when it healed under it.

The other two women were online, a look of absolute terror on their faces as they were whimpering in the dim lit room, "please kill us" one was saying, "please, no more", she was crying with a broken voice.

When Slom got close she changed completely "oh it's someone else", her voice got flat, "are you an admin captain?" .

They stopped struggeling against their ropes and the other woman turned to him "im really not into this 'revenge' thing you got here so just despawn us and we will be on our way"

Slom walked over to their beds and stabbed them through their hearts, then he took out the mirror and called "hey rick do you know how emergency evacuation works?"

Rick's face blurred into view "yeah whoever is stuck somewhere can ask the ship to put them in a dingy"

"So i want you to put these assholes in a boat and anchor it" Slom eyed the idle NPCs around the room "and if there are any others that came in this room in the past 2 hours dump them too", he cut down the rat, "except for the rat girl, ill talk to her".

"Aye aye cap'n, emergency evacuation it is" and the room fell silent as all the idle NPCs were gone.

A ghost ship full of horrors was sailing on crystal waters, headed to uncharted seas when one last NPC logged off.