Okay then, I know I feel better after what I did. Do you? Great, let’s get back into it shall we? Where did I leave off? Oh, right… Raven and I as detectives. So, as I said before, I was dragged… er… guided to the elevator and we took it to the level where the accident originated from. Uh, shit, I forgot which one that was again. One of smaller ones, I know that much. Well, that’s not important right now, let’s just say it was a higher tiered section, m’kay? Anyhoo, she and I got up there, and headed to the very dark, and very non-operational landing bay. We had to break out our small flashlights to snoop around in the dark.

Yes, we all have flashlights on us at all times. You’ve got to in this sort of place. Never know when the power will go out from a passing electromagnetic storm, solar flare, heck, even a ship crashing into your space station. That was probably the main reason it was out in the first place. The doors were closed to keep space from sucking us all into the abyss, and I’m sure they were trying to conserve as much energy as the could, for a station of this size. I mean, those solar batteries don’t come cheap ya know.

“I think it’s over here.” Raven said to me, her voice echoing through the very large spacious bay.

In the centre of it, was the large gaping hole the ship had created. It was nice that the next level below put up a big honkin’ tarp to cover it. I’m sure that really solves the whole problem. And where you get a big tarp of that size anyway? It’s not like there’s a shop anywhere near that specializes in that. I must have uttered that thought aloud, cause Raven elbowed me and told me to, “Shut the fuck up”.

I was about to give my response to her, by kicking her in the ass, when my eye suddenly caught something familiar parked in the back corner of the bay. I broke away from her immediately and headed over to examine it, just to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. Raven tried to quietly yell at me… yes, quietly… it is possible to do that you know. I ignored her passive aggressiveness, and walked up to the oddity sitting there. It was the sleek, silvery ship. The one that crashed through station and made that nice new open concept tunnel through the levels. It was barely covered by a blue tarp, with its nose sticking out like a sore thumb. What is it about these tarps? Seriously, did I not notice a tarp store opening up somewhere?

“Is that what I think it is?” Raven gawked as I removed the cover back.

“Sure looks like it.” I said, examining the craft with my hand. I glided it over the smooth silky metal. I felt strange for doing it, for some reason. Maybe because it felt like I was stroking a woman’s naked thigh. “What the hell is it doing here? This should be in the security zone parking bay.”

“I told you something was up with this ship, man.” Raven nudged me.

“Yeah…” I nodded.

Raven glared at me, noticing I was still stroking it. “Do you need a moment? Or some tissues for afterward?”

“What?”

“Gawd!” She rolled her eyes. She slapped my hand down from it and roused me from copping a feel for so long. “I swear you need some professional help, dude.”

“I wasn’t… I mean… that’s not what I….” I stuttered, looking for any words to explain my actions. I quickly collected myself and placed her hand to it. “There! See? Tell me that’s not fucked up.”

Raven’s eye grew wide. She was much better and describing the sensation then what my mind came up with.

“Eeew…”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t better. But, she at least understood my concern.

“It’s like… petting a shark.” She glared back at me. “It’s so squishy to the touch, isn’t it? But it’s metal, and yet… not. Weird, what is this thing?”

“There’s no windows either.” I pointed upwards, showing the section of where should be. “What kind of a spaceship doesn’t have windows? The pilot would get bored, not to mention the passengers.”

“It doesn’t always have to have a window, ya know. It could be an AI craft of sorts.”

“I doubt it.” I scoffed at her suggestion. “Sure, it’s small, but they’re more than enough room for some guests. There’s not even a seam for the door area, or landing struts underneath.” Raven seemed surprise by that and looked. I waved my hand underneath where there should be one and even scooted down into the spot. “It’s levitating for god’s sake. There’s nothing there, see? Even if I bump it, the ship’s not moving.”

“This is fuckin’ creepy…” She said, while eyeing it. She seemed just as perplexed as I was. But then, she shook her head and covered it back up with the tarp.“Look, we can worry about this mystery later. Let’s get back on track here.”

“We are…” I said, coming out of the underside and gesturing at it with both hands. “This is what you wanted. Investigation, detective work… all that cop-type stuff…”

“This is just one part of it.”

“Seriously?” I peered at her questioningly. “Did you take a course on how to be a super-awesome detective or something in the last few hours of our new promotion? Cause I didn’t get that pamphlet.”

She dragged me away from the ship and continued to walk over to the other part of the landing bay.

“We need to look up the vids and anything about the crash itself. If you’re going to do a puzzle, you need all the pieces to work with first.”

I swear she got that from one from advertisement boards on our daily walks. Some sort of drink, I think. Could have been for clothes or something, I dunno, just sounds like that sort of thing.

“Come on!” She shouted at me.

I snapped out of my inner thought about it, and resolved that she was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Fine, I’ll play along, I guess. As we reached the office, I heard a noise. I spun around and eyed the vast empty landing bay, dark and fucking eerie as it was, and peered about to see in what direction it came from. Then Raven heard it too. She also stopped to gaze about. Then, like a fucking heartache before my years, a guy popped out from the far corner of the office. He’d been wedged in the gap of the wall and manifested like a zombie waiting for its victims.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I don’t… have… the time,” He muttered, looking at us with wild eyes and a haunted face. “I use to… somewhere… but, I need… need…” He paused, looked at me, and smiled. “Hello there!”

“Goddamnit…” I cursed. “It’s just Al…”

“Al? Al who?” Raven asked, still clutching her chest as she nearly soiled herself from that scare as well.

“Hey, Al… ya lost again?” I said, relaxing my posture and gesturing at him. “You’re usually in two floors down… remember? Remember, Al?”

“I don’t… uh… what…” He stammered in confusion. “Oh, officer guy… yeah-yeah… uh, have you got the time?”

“Jesus…” I rolled my eyes.

Every fucking day I’ve got to deal with this junkie. The man burned out long ago. Nobody knows who he is, where he’s from, he’s just some guy that got stuck here, been panhandling on the lowers for years upon years. And what does he spend all that money on? Why, whatever the latest narcotic that rolls out from the gangs and mob controlled sections. I always find him passed out on the street, down some obscure alley, or even by the elevator near my place. I swear, if he pisses on me again, I’ll fucking throw him down that hole to the bottom.

“Okay, Al…” I passively waved at him, seeing if he was keeping eye contact with me this time. “No time or money for you today, okay? And before you ask, no, neither of us have some drugs on us either, ya get me? There’s nobody on this level to help you out.”

Raven watched as I calmly approached him and checked his vitals. I just anted to make sure the old fossil wasn’t going to collapse. Last thing I need is some junkie dropping dead and me having to carry the body out of a restricted area that even we shouldn’t even be in.

“Officer… guy, yah, yeah, th-th-that’s you.” Al glared at me with his awful, toothless grin. “Nice, you’re nice to me, I know you… have you seen my time?”

“No, Al,” I responded, drawing out a frustrated sigh as I pandered to his question. “No time here. Why don’t you see if it’s on the next level down, hm? Maybe go sleep off whatever you’re on now. There’s a good guy… off ya go.”

I guided him away slowly, making sure I wasn’t too rough about it. Al tended to get abusive if you did. I even motioned to the way out, making sure he took note of it, and let the man saunter over on his own soon afterwards. Shit, I hope I never end up like that poor junkie. I can’t imagine having such a fried brain and living on this turd of a station. I”m sure he’s run into a few unsavoury characters in his wanderings and paid the price for doing so. Yeah, if I ever get like that, I hope someone ejects me into space and put me out of my misery.

Raven and I watched him with pity. She tapped me on the shoulder and motioned her head back to the office.

“Let’s get back on track here. I don’t want to get caught on vids should this place come back online in a few hours.”

“I still think this is a waste of time.”

“Yeah, I know you do.” She smirked at me. “But I don’t, so quit your chicken-shit attitude and get in there.”

I cocked a brow at her. “Chicken-shit?” I sarcastically repeated. How would she even know an expression like that, let alone what a chicken was? There hasn’t been an animal like that in nearly four hundred years, well, not around here that is. Maybe they’ve got them on other colonies, or a few strays on Earth somewhere that survived the ecological disasters and wars, but, nothing around this side of the galaxy. I had to give my head a shake. See? She’s got me thinking about stupid stuff again. Chickens of all things.

“Fine…” I huffed out at her. “Let’s go get your so-called evidence.”

* * *

What was supposed to take only a few minutes searching this office ended up being a whopping two hours. We combed through dozens of vid files, papers (couldn’t believe it still exists), and endless data pads that where just lying about without a care. Fuck, these guys were sloppy idiots. I tried to contain my boredom as I sat there flicking through the mind numbing information, when something actually interesting caught my eye. It was from someone named, Joshua, regarding the station’s top tier security clearance.

Please inform your section that there will be a blackout of communication during the next few days. Do not operate any ship within the allotted hours given, as this will hinder the experiment. You know what to do and whom to contact if anyone asks.

Joshua

I showed it to Raven, who nodded after giving it a quick glance. She was also discovering something interesting on the vid file as she played it back for me.

“Take a look at this, do you see something familiar in the background of space?”

The video showed the landing bay, specifically, the view beyond the transparent blue energy barrier protecting the bay from the vacuum of space. For a few seconds, nothing was out of the ordinary, just the daily routine and docking of the usual space freighters; but then, from the corner angle, in the deep blackness a few miles out, there was a small craft. It was hard to make out at first, but as I peered intently on it, I could see that it was…

“Holy fuck, the silver ship!” I blurted out.

“That was five months ago.” Raven informed me. “I saw it again on another vid five months prior to that..”

“There’s nothing on records.” I stated back, still eyeing it as it looped over and over.

“I know,” She nodded with a smirk. “I can’t find anything on it. There’s no flight log, no manifest inventory, no docking permits… nothing.” She tapped the screen and shut off the vid. “It’s like the damn thing doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe someone doesn’t want it to exist, ya know?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” I sighed, hiking up my belt. “I’ve turned a blind eye for certain deliveries for certain people. As have we all in the force….”

“Not me,” Raven protested with her arms folded. “I think that’s just asking for trouble.”

I snorted at her judgemental eye on me. “Please, you’ve done it too. Or do I need to remind you of that time on south lower ten, hanger twelve, where you disappeared for a few minutes to find you’re… uh… what was it? Oh, yes… package that arrived.”

She curled her lip and lowered her eyes at me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Hey,” I calmly said, patting her shoulder, big grin on my face. “I don’t judge, it’s none of my business… even if it was violating quarantine protocols…”

“You asshole!” She shouted, swatting me on the chest. “You looked! Didn’t you!”

“Like I said,” I shrugged with my hands up. “I don’t judge. But don’t act like you’re better than us all. Bringing an invasive species could mean a spacing, right?”

“It’s a fucking plant, dude.” She grimaced at me. “Just a fucking tomato plant… I like them fresh.”

I giggled slightly and raised up my hands again. “Whatever floats your space pod darlin’, I didn’t say a word. That’s kind of friend I am.”

Her anger seemed to subside as I mentioned that. She had to agree, I could have ratted her out at any given time. But, like all of us here, we just do what we need to do to survive. Instead of dragging it out further, she downloaded the file to her personal data pad and started cleaning up the mess she made. Not that it needed it. The place was a mess anyway, who would know?

“Let’s get going…” She said to me, storming out o the office. “We’re going to be back on duty in a few more hours.”

“Fuck me…” I groaned. “I’m going to sleep like shit, thanks to doing all this.”

“Quit you’re complaining!” I heard her reply outside. “Let’s go already!”

I gazed about the room one last time and gave defeated sigh. As much as I didn’t want to be a detective, prying into things that don’t really concern me (on a personal level), I was finding a small amount of interest about the going-on’s about this whole situation. Why was this silver ship such a mystery? Who the fuck was covering it up? And, good god, what the hell was happening on the top tier of this station? Man, I just wanted to be drunk, asleep, and dreaming of naked women taking advantage of me. Is that so much to ask?