Spying

Danny had known that natural portals could open randomly and that there was no certainty where and when one would end up. However, he never would have thought that he'd end up more than 200 years in the future and on a freaking starship. He was in space. He couldn't stop staring out of every available window.

He was currently floating invisibly near one of the windows in the mess hall. Coming to think about it, it sort of reminded him of the cafeteria back at Casper High. The senior officers shared a table while the other officers remained with those of similar rank and/or department.

He considered the three of them he'd had contact with so far. Captain James T. Kirk, his first officer and chief science officer Commander Spock, who as Danny had overheard was part of an extraterrestrial species called Vulcans, and Dr. Leonard H. McCoy, the USS Enterprise's chief medical officer, who was on a first name basis with the captain to the point that not once in the time Danny had been on board had he heard McCoy refer to the captain by title. And Kirk himself called the Doctor "Bones" for some reason. Spock on the other hand called Kirk Captain exclusively on duty and McCoy Doctor. Always.

The young halfa felt somewhat guilty for spying on them. None of them had shown any sign of contempt or even fear towards him, and yet, Danny was on guard. He knew he would need their help if he ever wanted to return home. Not to mention that while he had been wearing them, the cuffs had not only reduced him to the clumsy, weak kid he was without his powers, but they, or the electric shock that had rendered him unconscious, had somehow trapped him in ghost form.

After he'd fled from the briefing room to an unoccupied set of quarters, ready to change back and drop dead figuratively speaking, he found to his despair that he couldn't turn back into a human. Not even the signature rings would appear.

Sighing in resignation, he returned his gaze to the stars. Why was his life such a mess?

"Anything abnormal on the security tapes, Spock?" Kirk asked the Vulcan after he'd taken a seat.

"Indeed, Captain." Spock turned the monitor so Kirk and McCoy could see the footage from the mess hall. It was from this morning 00:34 hours. First nothing happened, then a tray slowly flew towards the food synthesizer. A disk floated into its appropriate spot. The machine processed the disk, the slot opened, revealing a large sandwich and a beverage in a standard issue cup. The food and drink then moved out of the machine and onto the tray. The tray went over to a table near the window where it lowered itself onto the tabletop.

The two humans watched with stunned amusement as the sandwich disappeared quickly bite by bite. The cup flew up and tilted, its contents seemingly never flowing out. Then the tray put itself in the recycler and Spock stopped the recording.

Kirk couldn't keep the grin of his face. "Phantom?"

Spock raised an eyebrow, his own lips twitching. "Most likely, Sir."

McCoy shook his head. "The kid's still so afraid of us that he eats in the dead of night while invisible? What did those guys do to him?"

Kirk sobered. "I don't know, Bones. Does either of you have an idea how to gain his trust?"

Spock cleared his throat. "This is not the first recording of him eating. As he seems to need sustenance like humans do, I suggest we leave disks with a small variety of meals for him."

"Good idea. Should we put them near the synthesizer?"

Spock shook his head. "Unnecessary. Ship sensors show odd energy readings in an unoccupied set of junior officers' quarters. The readings are similar to those Dr. McCoy took of Phantom."

McCoy tapped his chin in thought. "Seems like he went to find a place to rest and regain his strength. You think we should sneak in and put the disks on the desk?"

Spock nodded. "Precisely. Phantom seems to be currently inside his quarters, but inactive. I believe he is sleeping."

Kirk nodded, his smile returning. "Bones, what would you suggest feeding a boy Phantom's age?"

An hour later, the three quietly entered the room in question. At first there was no sign of someone inhabiting it, but if they listened carefully, they could hear the sound of somebody taking steady breaths.

They looked at each other before slowly moving towards the sleeping area. The first thing they saw was a pair of white boots discarded on the floor right next to the bed. At the foot of the bed lay a familiar black and white outfit. Spock rubbed the fabric together between his fingers.

Their eyes moved further up the bed. Curled up and wrapped in the blanket like a burrito was undoubtedly Phantom, even though all that was visible of him was a mop of white hair.

They stepped away from the sleeping child towards the desk where Spock slowly and silently put down the labeled disks before they tiptoed out the door.

Back in the corridor, Spock was the first who spoke. "A hazmat suit."

Dr. McCoy looked straight ahead while they walked. "You think it was what he wore when he… became a ghost? Sorry, it's hard for me to think of that breathing, sleeping kid as dead."

"Only Phantom can answer that I'm afraid," Kirk mused. "Didn't those government nutjobs mention a home dimension for ghosts? Are they truly dead humans or are they simply beings from another dimension?"

"I believe that too is something only Phantom can tell us," Spock answered. "Unless you wish to risk receiving a lot of unproven theories and half truths."

Kirk shuddered. Telling their 'prisoners' where and when they currently were had led to wild speculations between the two agents on how that was possible. The mere thought of it had his head spinning again. "No thanks. I hope our ghost boy is more qualified to answer our questions."

Danny sat up in the narrow bed and rubbed his eyes. He got up and dressed before stepping around the divider separating the sleeping area from the rest of the room. He stopped dead in his tracks. There was something on the desk that had not been there when he had gone to bed. Someone had been in here while he had been sleeping. He hadn't heard a thing. He seemed to have been more beat than he'd thought.

Danny flew over to the desk and picked up the object. He blinked when he realized that he was holding disks for the food machine thingy in the mess hall. They were labeled with his name as well as what they contained. Had they really given him a collection of breakfast, lunch and dinner options?

He shook his head in disbelieve. But then, for the first time in quite a while, a smile crept onto his face.

Somewhere deep within the Ghost Zone, a figure in a purple cloak holding a staff in his gloved hand was watching the scene of the smiling young boy holding a few yellow, red and blue disks in his hands. A secretive smile flittered across his features. "All is as it should be."

Wow, I'm shook. Thanks for your support.

The scene of Danny eating while invisible is somewhat inspired by a kids' TV show about a Bavarian master carpenter who gets a kobold who turns invisible when others approach. There was a scene where that kobold ate stuff that fell off the table and as a child I found it looked funny.

Thanks for the support. Until next time. Good night.