The Shadow in Space

I don’t know how this happened. I just knew that I needed to get to the Crew Return Vehicle.

Three days earlier, we found the canister in the Docking Bay. Floating in the sunlight. The canister was black and silver, with an engraved label. It read: Property of Harbourage. Harbourage was a pharmaceutical company that often lent aid to diaster strucken areas. It wasn’t odd to see it on the Space Station. Harboourage was a large donor to NASA within the past year. Harbourage provided the necessary testing and medical equipment on board. There was a recent stock on supplies; maybe this one was missed.

At first, only Lauren and I were in the docking bay. We watched the canister float in the air, and we floated around it.

“What do you think it is?” Lauren asked, crossing her arms. “ It doesn’t look like the rest of the equipment. It kinda-”

“Kinda reminds you of a time capsule?” I finished her sentence, staring at the thing. “ Are we missing anything from the manifest?”

“I don’t think so. Everything was accounted for except for this.”

I poked the canister, and it gently floated towards Lauren. This wasn’t the first time we’ve found extras. It was rare; everything needed to be accounted for before takeoff. One ounce over weight and lift-off can be disastrous. The capsule-shaped canister was ornate; it didn’t reveal what its contents might have been. Which made me all the more curious. We needed to report the oversight immediately per protocol. Calculations needed to be run to ensure the trip back would be as light as possible.

“Let’s take this to the lab and give it a crack,” Lauren suggested.

“Shouldn’t we tell command?” I voiced. “ If there’s an oversight like this, what else can be here, or worse, what could be missing?”

“Listen, this isn’t the first time this has happened. We’re on the last tour. It’ll be another six years before I and most of the gang get to come back up. You’re part of the newest rotation, and I get it. You want to do everything by the book, which is great. It’ll save your life and others'. But before we report it. Let’s go take a peek. What do you say?”

It was against all better judgment. I began leaning to the side, my vision going vertical, but all the while I never took my eye off the canister. If we called it in, we would be forced to store it and not open it. What was in it, I pondered. I couldn’t take my eyes off the casing and how it showed underneath the artificial lights. This was my first trip in space, and I was still a little on edge. Lauren and the other senior astronauts were more relaxed than I was. Maybe I could have stood to relax more. “Alright, if you’re sure about this.”

A huge smile grew on Lauren’s face. “Let’s go!”

We floated to the medical lab. She carried the capsule like a football. The hatch opened, and we were greeted by UV lights and another astronaut, Sammy. He was stocking empty petri dishes. He was listening to his AirPods and singing the chorus of Tell It To My Heart. He was surprised to see Lauren and me back in the medical lab.

“I thought you two were done for the day.”Sammy smiled, putting away his AirPods. “What’s that?”

“Capsule from Harbourage. Catch.” Lauren passed the object in the air. Slowly, it floated to Sammy, and he gave it his own once over.

Lauren left out the fact that it was a random object that was found in the Docking Bay and wasn’t on the manifest. I was irritated by the lack of transparency, but that could have been just me being a stickler for the rules. I looked to Sammy for reason, surely, he would be on the same tune as I am.

“Let’s crack it open!” Sammy exclaimed.

I was let down, really. Without preamble, Sammy opened the capsule.

We were all silent. Sammy twisted the top off the orante capsule, and we watched the object float out. The object was so dark that it absorbed the light. There was no shine, just darkness. It was a black apple.

“That can’t be real.” Lauren spoke first, “ Has to be plastic. Fruit can’t make it up here. They end up as mush,” She touched the object, causing it to lightly spin on its axis.

“It’s been months since I’ve had real fruit and not the freeze-dried stuff.” Sammy moaned, looking at it sympathetically.

“Yeah, it’s been a while.” Lauren sighed.

I could admit. It did look delicious, and it felt like ten years since I had any fresh fruit. The darkened fruit couldn’t have been edible. Even in its perfect shape, it couldn’t have been. The fruit wasn’t bruised. We each passed it around, giving it a sniff. Nothing out of the ordinary. The scent of an apple was strong but not artificial. It was real, but why was the apple black? Not just black; it seemed to absorb the light.

“We can split it three ways and have a bit of a snack, yeah?” Sammy looked to Lauren and me for approval.

Lauren nodded in agreement. I couldn’t believe it, but I had to be the voice of reason. What if this thing were contaminated? “Listen, I know we miss earthly things, but we still have to be safe. Let’s at least test it for contaminants. We don’t know how long it’s been in that capsule or even what the capsule has been through. The apple might be rotten to the core for all we know.”

We three floated silently, staring at the apple. Reason had taken over. “Okay.” Sammy offered.

“Let’s see what this apple is made of.”

Lauren and Sammy set up the lab for testing while I continued to fiddle with the capsule. We were so enticed by the apple that we missed the rest of the contents. There was a small note written in cursive.

One word: ‘Enjoy’ and the initials. E. D. on the back of the note read in Latin: Tenebrae No Ligare.

Enjoy? Were we actually expected to eat this fruit?

I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept thinking about the apple. How it looked. It’s in perfect shape for traveling from Earth to the International Space Station. I wondered how crisp it was. Who was E.D? How was the capsule made to keep an apple from withstanding the pressurized cabins and flight? Too many questions swam in my mind. I was awake while the rest of the crew seemed fast asleep. I unlatched and went to the Medical Bay, where we were holding the apple. I saw it through the window. Half was being tested, and the other lay in the cooling fridge, zipped locked. There was a hum of the low lights of the station. It was midnight, and we were simulating darkness and lowlight. It was enough light to find my way around. I found myself on the outside of the hatch, staring through the window at the apple.

I didn’t want to make any noise for fear of waking my crewmates, so I just floated there staring.

It was more enticing, not that it was sliced open. It was impossible, but I could have sworn that I could smell its juicy flesh. I could feel my stomach growling with hunger. I slipped into wonder; what did it taste like? Was it still crisp? Did it need to be chilled to enhance the flavor? I could feel my mouth salivating. My mind was so preoccupied with the apple that I didn’t notice my hand on the latch until I was hit by the UV cleansing light; it snapped on with an audible pop. I pushed myself backwards away from the door. What was I doing? The test needed to be run… I couldn’t eat that thing… what was coming over me? After I shook the thoughts from my mind, I went back to my quarters and slept.

My alarm went off, but it was the screams that woke me out of my sleep. It was 6:55 am. I unlatched and propelled out of my quarters to the sound of the screams. It was multiple people screaming. I could hear the clamour of equipment whirling and alerts blaring. Something was wrong, and I needed to find out what. It was coming from the US Medical Bay.

“What’s going on?” I bellowed, floating towards the small crowd in front of the door. Other crewmates from the Russian and Japanese divisions were there, bewildered, and their eyes wide, looking through the viewer.

Kiyoko merely pointed before speaking. “ he’s melting?”

“WHAT?” I exclaimed. Over the commotion.

My ears must have betrayed me for the screaming; did she say, melting? I floated past Sergio, who was stotically staring through the viewer. What I saw, I couldn’t comprehend. Sammy was clawing at his throat and sternum. His screams were deep and guttural. I could see Lauren in the Medical Bay, just floating limp in the corner. I can see blood streaming down her face, but nothing else. Sammy was struggling and writhing in the air. He was waving his arms, slamming himself against the equipment. I could see the flesh of his hands drip and float upwards. Chunks flew from his face as he bashed it up against the glass petri dishes. With each bash of his face, red flesh and glass became airborne. Blood and ire sprayed onto the viewer's glass as it did, and Kiyoko shuddered and floated backwards away from the scene. Something had to be done. This calamity must be stopped.

“Sergio, grab the Ativan, and I’ll grab Lauren.” I looked over towards the bearded man.

It was protocol 25; if a crew member became erratic or disturbed for any reason, we were to administer the prefilled syringe and securely place them in their quarters.

We opened the hatch and entered. Sergio went for the syringe while I floated to Lauren.

“Lauren, hey!” I screamed over the commotion on the other side of the Medical Bay.

She was unresponsive, pulse weak. Her face was bleeding, but I couldn’t tell right away where. There was a spray of blood leaking from her, but from where? I shook her, but without gravity, its effect was lackluster. I turned around to see Sergio now in a struggle with Sammy. There was so much blood in the air. Chunks of flesh floating above Sammy like a gruesome halo. His checks were hollow, and gums and teeth were now exposed.

The syringe was in Sergio’s hands, but now Sammy’s attention was on him. “I can’t grab him!” He screamed on the defensive. Sammy was clawing the air between them. Sergio was backing away as fast as he could, but Sammy closed the distance. His hands were bone and melted flesh; I could see the boils on his body. The blisters were bursting and oozing into the air. It was like watching someone burn from the inside out. Sergio screamed as Sammy grabbed onto his arm. “ It burns!” Sergio bellowed out, ‘It burns!”

Sammy bit down on Sergio’s arm. Serigo punched Sammy repeatedly in the face to get him to let go. Now Sergio was the only one screaming. With each punch, a piece of flesh drifted into the air. More blood sprayed from Sergio’s arm, flying into the air, covering the windows of the Medical Bay. The hatch suddenly opened, and Kiyoko flew in as quickly as zero-gravity would allow, and she plunged the syringe into Sammy’s neck.

This caused Sammy to howl once again, and he let go of Sergio and started writhing. Within a few moments, he was floating limp. Thank God it stopped. I turned back to Lauren, and I began checking her vitals. I went to open her eyes and was immediately met with a gruesome sight. Her eyesockets were empty. There was nothing but red flesh where eyes should have been. I gave a sharp yelp, then I moved to check her pulse. She was dead.

10:45 am. Kiyoko and I strapped her body down on a gurney in the Medical Bay beside the remains of Sammy. We all prayed that the Ativan would put him out of his misery. His body continued to disintegrate. We placed him in a thermal-proof body bag. Same as Lauren. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. It made us sick.

“What the hell caused this?” She asked me, gazing into the room with blood splatter on the other side of the viewer. “Sergio’s in his quarters resting up. I gave him some morphine for the pain from the bite.”

My eyes were scanning the room from the outside. The apple is gone. The testing area is in disarray. I could only conclude that one of the two ate it. Or maybe they split it. Regardless, they ate the apple, as far as I could tell, and this was the result. I considered my words carefully. Would she think I was crazy if I said an apple did this?

“Have you heard of the company, Harbourage?” I asked, turning to her.

“Nothing that no one else would know. They just opened a Headquarters in Japan. That’s 4 hubs they have now. Why?”

“Yeah, America, the UK, Africa, now Japan,” I muttered to myself, still figuring out how to tell her about the apple. I floated away from here towards the control center. “I think it was something they ate. Let’s get to the Control Room and send a message down to command.”

The Control Room was dark, lit only by the monitors' and backlit panels' lights. “Alright, we call NASA.” Kiyoko floated behind me.

I started typing a few lines of code to get the monitor running and the lines of communication open. The satellites were calibrated, and the signal connected. “Hello Command.”

There was only silence as we stared at the screen. Several seconds passed, “Hello Space Station, we read you loud and clear.” The voice on the other end finally announced.

“Command, we gotta problem. There was-”

The hatch to the Control Room open startling me. I quickly spun around to see a ghastly Sergio. God, he didn’t look well. He was holding his bandaged arm. The gauze looked like it already needed to be changed. His skin was devoid of natural coloring; he was so ghastly that his skin looked grey-tinted. From his wound, his veins were prominent and dark, and his eyes were red and bloodshot.

“I do not feel well.” The Russian finally spoke, floating in the doorway. Sergio began coughing. The cough was deep within his chest. He covered his mouth as he coughed.

“Maybe we should get you back to bed.” Kiyoko floated next to him. It wasn’t long ago that she had administered the Morphine. Typically Morphine does make a person nauseous.

“Space Station, what problem?’ The urgency in the operator's voice drew my attention away from Sergio and Kiyoko.

“W-We had an accident. I don’t know what happened.” I was starting to get frantic. How was I going to explain that an apple did this?

Sergio stopped coughing and pulled his hand away from his face, and blood started to drift upwards along with a tooth.

“You need to be quarantined,” Kiyoko covered her mouth.

“Space Station, what is the accident?” The voice was stern, drawing my attention back to the monitor.

Before I could speak, another scream rang out. It was Kiyoko. Sergio had his arms wrapped around Kiyoko, restraining her arms to her sides. He was biting down on her jugular. His eyes were red and wild with hunger and fury. Instinct kicked in. The only thing I knew to do was launch myself at him and try to get Kiyoko out of his grasp. The closer I got, the clearer I could see his veins popping out of his neck, forehead, and arms. All blackened. Blood was leaking from his nose, floating upwards, or was it Kiyoko’s blood? I couldn’t tell. Once I was close enough, I began punching the back of Sergio’s head, hoping to knock him out. It had little effect on him as I watched him rip out Kiyoko’s jugular with his teeth. He turned around, grabbed my face with one hand, and slammed me against the wall.

The force was enough to knock me out for the rest of the cycle. I came to at 3:00 am. I was left floating in the corner of the room. I looked downward to see absolute hell. The control panel was utterly destroyed. The controls were bashed in, the monitor broken. There was blood all over the keyboard and monitor. There was no communicating to NASA. I don’t know the first thing about the Russian or Japanese modules; this terminal was the mainline.

Then I remembered. A Crew Return Vehicle was attached to the docking station. If I could make it there… then I could get home and away from this madness. The Docking Bay was on the other side of the Space Station. We were well into the night cycle. The Station was put into a type of sleep mode; during sleep mode, there was artificial darkness, but it seemed darker. The halls were clear as I drifted carefully and silently. I didn’t see anyone, but what I did see was carnage.

The hatch to the Medical Bay was open, and the bodies of Lauren and Sammy were missing. I started hyperventilating. What was going on? They were dead. Why would Sergio move them? What if he ate them? I silently prayed. For what? Anything. To Who? Anyone who was listening.

I couldn’t float there long, despite the dark; I was out in the open, and I didn’t want Sergio to have the chance to get the drop on me. I started my silent journey to the Docking Bay. I hugged the corners and stayed out of any backlight; I couldn’t take the chance of being spotted by Sergio. I didn’t have time to analyze what was and what wasn’t. Survival, that was my top priority.

The darkness felt pervasive; the shadows on the ship felt alive. I wanted to scream; I didn’t want to be in them, but I had no choice. I wanted to scream out, cry, and vomit. There was a hum in the station. I didn’t know where it was coming from; I could only assume it was the shadows themselves. In the off chance I had to be in the low light, the humming went away. The shadows were singing, and their song shook me to my bones.

I made it to the Docking Bay. The CRV was just on the other side. The Docking Bay door was already open, and what I saw inside shook me. It was Lauren; her face was a swarm of black veins where eyes should have been. She was smiling and hissing. God, she was alive? Did I not check her vitals? I know I did, and she is dead. What was she doing here? Lauren was floating there, turning her head back and forth, searching for something. Could she see with those new veins coming from her eyes? I couldn’t tell. I stayed in the shadows.

“Smell. You.” Lauren spoke, turning her back to me as I continued to float silently. Oh God, she spoke. She can smell me. I needed to move fast.

I quietly propelled myself to the CRV hatch. There was a small control panel that needed a code. I pressed the code in as quickly as I could. The beeping from the keys got Lauren’s attention; she thrashed in the air, making her way towards me. The access hatch was authenticating my code; the hatch door wasn’t opening quickly enough.

“ SMELL YOU!!!” Her grasp reached out for me, but I propelled myself silently upwards. She couldn’t see, but she could hear and apparently smell me. Lauren lingered by the door, waving her hands in the air, searching for something or someone to grab. She hissed, calming down and floating in front of the door. I had to lure her away from the door. As soon as it opened, I needed to enter the CRV and disembark back to Earth.

My best effort would be dangerous if I weren’t quick enough or if the timing wasn’t right. The authentication was at seventy percent. She was slow to float, given her condition. I was on the ceiling of the Docking Bay. I crawled on the ceiling back towards the entrance to the Docking Bay. I whistled to get Lauren’s attention as I lingered by the hatch.

“Get. You.” She muttered, flaying her arms in my direction. She was staggering in the air, struggling to move, but she followed the sound of my voice, nonetheless. I kept whistling and only stopped once she was close enough away from the CRV hatch.

I remained in the safety of the shadows up above on the ceiling. I crawled back to the CRV hatch. Ninety-five percent. It was taking a lifetime, but I kept a watchful eye on Lauren. I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead and floating upwards.

“ACCESS GRANTED,” the control panel chimed loudly in the silence.

Lauren screamed, scuttling through the air toward the source of the sound.

That instant, I opened the hatch and entered the CRV, just as Lauren came back to the sound’s origin. I slipped into the bay; I could see Lauren’s face against the hatch’s glass. This was a well-lit area. I felt safe behind the hatch door. From this position, I was able to fully examine her face. The veins were pressed up against the glass. They moved like an octopus’s limbs; searching and strange. I was mesmerized by the ire that was her face. It was grotesque and a mystery. How did this unnatural thing happen? I didn’t have time to contemplate the answer. I needed to get home and warn the others.

I floated to the suits and began the difficult task of putting one on alone. After what felt like an hour, I was secure and ready for my descent back to Earth. Lauren was screaming for the first few minutes. I tuned it out, but now the silence was deafening. I stared towards the hatch door. Something felt wrong. Just as that thought came to me, there was a crashing sound coming from outside in the Docking Bay. I couldn’t afford to check it out. Survival was the priority, not curiosity. I twisted on the helmet and boarded one of the CRVs.

A wave of relief washed over me as I escaped the International Space Station. I could feel the descent in the pressurized mini cabin. I closed my eyes, and the next time I opened them, I would be on Earth.

Epilogue

I lay in a hospital room after I was recovered from the ocean. I wasn’t injured, but they needed to run some diagnostics to make sure I didn’t lose too much muscle mass while in space. Being in zero-gravity and coming back to gravity was not pleasant. I felt heavy and overencumbered; all I could do was lie there in bed and watch TV.

There was a knock on my door. “ Captain, you have a visitor.” The nurse poked her head in. “ Do you feel up for a guest?”

I wasn’t expecting anyone. “Sure, but who is it? "

The nurse entered with a woman in tow. She wore a black three-piece suit with a pocket watch in her vest pocket. She held onto what looked like a basket of some sort. “This is the Granddaughter of Augustine Dagenhart, CEO of Harbourage.” The nurse said excitedly. “She’s on the board for the hospital, and once she heard we had a national hero here, she couldn’t resist.”

“After I heard such a harrowing tale, I had to make an appearance,” the woman smiled softly.

“That’s so kind of you, Mrs..?”

“Forgive me,” Her smile widened. “Eris Dagenhart.” She set the basket on my bedside table. “I brought these exclusively from my orchard.