Sol-Date: 2215-51-43

Sorry, I didn't post last week. I've been busy with work and a few other things around this ship, and then we jumped systems, which takes down any unnecessary communication for as long as it takes to get to the next system. We were down for four days.

So to give an update about the events which I can only describe as supernatural. Everything has been normal. We haven't had any maintenance issues at all, and the ship has been working flawlessly. Or if there were issues, they were fixed without needing a report. All I was concerned about was that whatever it was, whether it was a creature inhabiting the ship or just my head, it was gone.

Yesterday, we had our procession for PFC Bengle, and Sgt. Dick. on Momoru. The captain had the entire crew lined up on either side of the funeral procession as the pallbearers carried their caskets to the families. Even though I didn't know them, it still made me tear up. And then they played Taps. Taps is enough to make any grown man with a heart cry.

Two days after, I heard some of the maintenance workers gossiping, saying that the caskets were abnormally light. Almost like they were empty. I asked one of them about it and all they said was, "Not sure. It was almost like the body wasn't in the casket. But that's crazy, right?" The first one chucked a bit, shrugged, and walked off, leaving me to my thoughts. I asked a second and she said the same thing. My grandpa always said, one is an event, two is a coincidence, but three is a pattern.

It wasn't until the next day that the third came to me in my office.

"I heard you were asking around about the weight of the caskets," a man said without announcing himself. I looked up from some paperwork and saw he was a corporal. Higgins was the name stitched on his uniform.

"I might have been. What's up?" I asked.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Well," he paused and sighed, looking down at the floor. I reached a hand in an offered chair, which he took. "It's going to sound crazy."

"Son," I said, "I've been dealing with crazy for almost half a month. You can tell me what's going on, and I'll probably believe it."

"Alright," another pause, "I've been noticing things for a couple of weeks now that I thought I was just imagining. Sounds, like knocking. Nothing loud, but kind of like background noises that weren't there before. You know how it is, you get in these ships for the first time and can't sleep for weeks because of all the noise, but after a while, you just tune it out. Now it's almost as if something is missing. A pattern that was there but now it isn't."

"First time on deployment to a ship?" I asked. He was young and scared. "I think I know what you're talking about," I said. I dropped the stylus I was using next to my tablet and set my elbows on my desk, leaning towards him. "Best to chalk it up to anxiety, son. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's the best I've got for you. We have therapists on duty at all hours if you need a professional to talk to. I'm sure as hell not the best at giving advice." He looked a bit disappointed at that. But then I thought back to all the bullshit I've already told you readers about. "What does this have to do with the caskets?"

"Well, I was one of the pallbearers. I knew Bengle. We were good friends. I've seen funerals before. Anytime the bearers have to carry caskets any distance longer than 10 yards or so, you can tell they're putting in work to keep it off the ground. It's heavy and awkward. And at 8/10ths of a G, it shouldn't be light. We carried them almost a quarter of a mile, and none of us were even sweating. Almost like there wasn't a body in the casket."

He went on for a bit about it being a closed-casket funeral, whether the military would keep Bengle's body, and many other things about his friend that I'm sure he would prefer me not to talk about. You get the idea, though. I'm not the only one who was hearing or seeing things. I'm not crazy. I helped him as best as I could have and sent him on his way.

I might go look at the caskets tomorrow. We only commission caskets made of Solid Mahogany, with Brass railings and trim. This helps to accent the Crimson and Bronze of the Space Corps flag. They are usually pretty heavy. If they were made of light wood, it might account for the missing weight. Who knows.

Until next time.