Writer's Note: You're supposed to have lots of fun when you write stories right? Jeez I must be doing something wrong... :P Thanks every1 who left comments. Really is the driving force to me to keep writing. I'll go back and fix up my other chapters some time. Enjoy

Ghost Planet – Chapter 4

Dubious Demons

The air began to smell more and more like rot and mould which troubled Graveheart. They had decided it was best to return to the ship but retracing their steps was proving to be extremely difficult. He glanced to his right and saw Slate was still gripping his gun tightly as if they were in immanent danger. It was completely understandable, but Graveheart believed it was best to remain calm. His feet were getting sore after walking up and down mountains and it didn't help traveling with a companion who complained about it every minute. The constant reminders of the planet's decrepit environment and their lack of working flashlights only added to the agony of it all. Graveheart looked at the night's sky and sighed heavily. It was his fault they were in this mess. Isn't it? I'm the one who split us up so we could cover more ground. And now we're all lost. His eyes squinted. He couldn't be sure but something had changed. Why does it look different? The sky it looks ... brighter. It was that gradual, undetectable change in brightness that's only noticeable once some time goes by.

"Commander—"

"Huh! What?" Slate's voice slightly cracked, "oh, you say something chief?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his helmet and re-holstered his gun, "sounded like you were gunna tell me something important."

"Take a look at the sky. Is it just me or did it get brighter up there?" Graveheart said pointing a vertical finger.

"No ... really?" He took a good long gaze, "that's one long and cruel sunrise."

"You made some readings of this solar system before we came here right? Can you remember anything that might explain the long nights?"

"Well I've actually been coming up with a theory but I didn't want to say anything until I was sure. I skimmed over the rotational speeds and axis angles of the planet and its moons." Slate crossed his arms and mumbled to himself for a moment. He paced back and forth writing in the air with his fingers. "Yes, that would explain it."

"You figure it out?"

"Good speculation at best. The biggest moon, let's call it Chubby, isn't above us is it?"

Graveheart counted the moons. He could only see four now, which wasn't true a few hours ago. "No."

"My guess is that the sun is near the horizon, but the planet is being eclipsed by Chubby. It would explain the increase in brightness of the sky, can't be sure because of this blasted fog."

"How long do you think the eclipse will last?"

"Well," Slate sighed, "you see, this eclipse will probably last a few hours."

"What do you mean this?" Graveheart asked knowing what bad news was to come.

"It's possible that the moons revolve around the planet precisely so that it's eclipsed for a good part of its journey around the sun, if not entirely."

Graveheart couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could a civilization have survived without any sunlight? "You could guess all that from a few vector readings?"

"Hey Jade didn't make me Commander of the Guard because of my good looks alone y'know." He smirked and continued walking ahead.

Jade wouldn't have made him commander unless he had the right stuff. Then why send him on a mission of exploration? He should be training soldiers and forming battle tactics. Was it really just to get on my nerves? I wonder what I did this time to tick her off. She obviously couldn't come talk to me about it herself. It was at that moment in which Graveheart realised driving each other further apart was the last thing she would do. And then it clicked. It was her messed up way of letting him know he still mattered to her. She made a decision and wanted Graveheart's opinion on the matter. It was more of that indirect affection she was putting at his feet ever since she was crowned. She wants my evaluation then? So, the Empress does care what I think after all. What are you afraid of Jade? Stop hiding behind that throne.

"Chief!" Slate yelled.

"Hey keep it down," Graveheart sprinted to the commander's side and looked in the direction he was pointing. Something was protruding high from the fog. It seemed to shine as it reflected the moonlight. Relief lit up Graveheart's face.

"Finally, I wouldn't have any feet left if we walked another hour," Slate groaned.

The wing of the ship became more apparent as they drew closer, but the rotting smell in the air was becoming stronger. This was a very bad sign. "Wait," Graveheart said shooting an arm in front of Slate.

"What's wrong?" He stared at Graveheart who remained silent and focused ahead. "Nasties?" Graveheart nodded. Slate stepped back and reached for his pistol.

Fog began to swirl and he could hear slow footsteps approaching. A figure emerged. It wasn't the giant blob they were expecting. Instead the creature was was bipedal and had a slender body. It's head seemed oddly unproportioned.

"Cryos!" Graveheart yelled. He couldn't hold back a giant grin. "Thank the maker! How did you know?" Cryos rose a hand and Graveheart stopped. The expression of the ice king was absent of any joy or relief. It was completely emotionless and it made Graveheart uneasy.

"You must leave immediately." Cryos said coldly.

"But, Tekla and Pyrus—"

The icy voice cut in, "are dead."

Graveheart stepped forward, his face turned to shock, "No! They can't be!" His body suddenly felt weak, his stomach began to churn. I've failed them. They depended on me to protect them, and I failed them!

Cryos' expression was unchanged, "we must leave this place." He gestured towards the ship.

Slate was standing in terror, his head was slowly shaking side to side in disbelief.

"Did you... recover their bodies?" Graveheart said staring at the ground. Cryos said nothing and turned to walk towards the ship.

Slate's voice was quivering, "where ... where is the Aurora Cryos."

Cryos looked back, "Oh Slate please! We must leave in your ship! Don't leave me here Slate, please." The sudden change in his tone sent chills up Graveheart's back. The blue man continued walking towards the ship until he disappeared into the fog.

"I've never met Cryos but I'm pretty sure that wasn't him," Slate said quietly. His eyes were wide open still staring into the fog.

Graveheart turned to him frowning, "What do you mean? How can you be sure?"

"Because I saw someone I knew," Slate breathed heavily and knelt to the ground, "it was Amber."

"Amber?" Graveheart looked completely bemused.

"She's sorta my girlfriend back on Rock. I couldn't understand why she would even be here, but when you called her Cryos, I knew we weren't seeing the same person. I tried to play along to see what would happen."

"Cryos was defiantly not being Cryos and if that wasn't him, then we can't trust anything he said."

"So what now?" Slate said hopelessly, "in addition to giant blobs, this planet has creatures who can impersonate our friends?"

"Let's just get to the ship so we can scan for Pyrus and Tekla. We might solve a few of these mysteries while we're at it."

"Aye chief." Slate leaped to his feet. "Did I ever mention how much I hate it here?"

Graveheart smirked, "I've stopped counting."

The Surmount appeared to be as they left it: bulky, rusted and littered with blast marks. The ship itself was rather famous among the Alliance. It defied every manner of destruction in the war with the Beast, transporting people of different race and class safely from one destination to another. It was the last surviving transport ship in an ambush by Beast fighters and every clash since then it came out with only a few bruises. Graveheart didn't understand the concept of a famous piece of scrap and when he was supposedly honoured with it for the mission, he found it hard to be rude and deny the ugly thing. With a fist he hammered the door release on the ship but nothing happened. It was hardly surprising.

"There's something on the hull," Slate said pressing a finger in something near transparent, "it's ... slimy. What the heck is it?" The slime stretched from his finger as he pulled it back and a clump of it fell to the ground with a mellow splash. He made a fitting sound of disgust and looked at Graveheart who was paying more attention to the uncooperative door.

He sighed and banged the ship in annoyance, "we'll have to get in through the top hatch," Graveheart said.

With some combined effort, the hatch spun open and the smell of stale, metal air that emerged was rather refreshing. Heavy feet landed inside and the entire ship shook and rattled as if its bolts were going to pop loose.

"If the monsters out there won't get us, the ship will after it collapses and crushes us under a hundred tons of steel," Slate snorted.

It was completely dark inside which concerned Graveheart since he left a few systems on in case either party needed to contact the ship. "Slate can you turn on main power?"

"Aye sir," he said fumbling in the darkness. He pulled a lever and could only laugh when no power came on.

"What could have drained all the ship's power?"

"Giant tentacle monsters is my first guess," Slate said, "but it's a good thing I was in the mood to follow away mission protocol. There's extra power cells for our flashlights in the storage along with a supply of energy coils for the ship. Let's hope they get her runnin again."

After some toiling and a few burned fingers, the new coils were installed. "Let's boot it up," Graveheart said. With a flip of the switch, the flight console was lit with blinking lights and the sounds of powered circuitry began flowing through the ship. "Let's turn off everything except sensors and coms, we don't want to attract anything out there."

"Somehow, I think it's a bit too late for that chief, but I'll do it anyway."

Graveheart turned on the scanners. His mind suddenly flashed to Cryos. The words coming from his icy voice were like stabs to his heart: "they're dead Graveheart." He wrapped his hands around his head and tried to get the image out.

Slate was going to voice his concern when a beeping sound came from the console. "Uh chief, we've got a video transmission here." The screen was a hazy white and they heard no sound accept for the popping of static.

"Where's it coming from? The Aurora?"

Slate read the signal readings, "no sir," he said with some optimism, "this transmission's local."

They both watched the screen not daring to blink. A grey shape began to take form at the center and Graveheart held his breath.