Chapter 20: The Plot Has Reappeared!
"Captain!" Reuben ran into the front deck. "A virus has been detected in the electrical appliances!"
"I now," Gantu replied, head resting on his clasped hands. "It's everywhere. I don't know where to track it from, or what it's doing. All we know is that it's in the ship."
Reuben shook his head. "So all we can do is hope it doesn't bring the ship down until we trace it?"
"Precisely."
"Then let's hope it's not too menacing."
Amy couldn't sleep. The voice in the wall was keeping her up.
It was just as crazy as it sounded. For the past week, everybody had been mentioning that they were hearing things, that computers were acting up, and there was a voice in the halls of the ship. Captain Gantu had scanned every appliance in the ship, but found nothing conclusive save signs of extra electric activity, and nobody could find a source. It travelled too fast through the electric wiring to be caught.
Whatever it was, it had an affinity for bothering people, and Amy seemed to be its favorite victim. Lights would short out while she read the book she'd bought for summer, Skulduggery Pleasant; it would make the treadmill she'd be running on suddenly stop working without reason; and at night, in the walls, it would whisper right in her ear, just to keep her awake.
"You're sleepy," it was whispering now, "You're very sleepy…" and every time she was almost asleep, it would shout "Wake up!" into her ears.
Amy dragged herself to the breakfast table, barely able to keep her eyes open. She somehow managed to get to her seat next to Sonja before her knees gave out, and she practically fell onto the chair.
"Um…" Sonja started, looking at Amy. Her hair was loose and in disarray, eyelids sagging, slumped over, and otherwise radiated an atmosphere of exhaustion. Even the psychic energy around her seemed to convey sleepiness, and she struggled to lift her hand up enough to pick up her fork and take the first bite of breakfast – waffles. "Amy, are you okay?"
"Nn…" was the response, and Amy took a slow bite of her breakfast. "So tired… stupid ghost on the ship is keeping me awake…"
"A… ghost?"
"She means the virus that the ship got," Reuben muttered, biting into his breakfast sandwich. "it's sentient, or at least a highly intelligent form of artificial intelligence. It likes bothering people." He glanced up as the speaker called his name. "Gotta go." He got up, and left the table.
"…Euphonic," Amy said after a few moments.
"What?" Sonja looked at her in confusion.
"The word," Amy said to herself. "The one I was trying to remember. Euphonic."
"Amy, what are you talking about?'
"…I don't know."