Sam could feel the vibrations from the hull on every floor, through every wall, and through every object he touched; the lighting flickered constantly between the artificial white, infinite black and overwhelming red as the Nova Luna’s power continually shutdown and restarted.

The sensor array detected no activity outside the ship, and when he looked through the portal window, all he could see was the emptiness of space and the stars that filled it – it made no sense why the whole ship should be vibrating as it was.

He caught sight of his reflection in the mirror in his quarters again, the same, strange blank square in his eyes looking back at him;  he looked closer, and suddenly realised what it was… a computer terminal viewport – he crossed his quarters through the alternating light show, to get to his viewport.

He sat, and managed to get the viewport powered up.

He read the text on the screen: ‘Nova Luna Life-Support inactive; Food and Recycling Systems inactive; Main and Secondary Sensors inactive; Defence Systems inactive; Semi-Automated Maintenance malfunctioning; Heat Shields and Door Systems inactive; Nova Luna.’

He stopped reading for a second to compose himself, before managing to read the final line: ‘Nova Luna wreckage discovered by the Nova Sunshine, scrap recovery attempt taking place, low traces of power still detected from Luna’s EternalCore, Total Shutdown Protocol initiated’; Sam slumped in his chair as the lights cycled through red to white to black for one last time, realising that by just a stroke of luck he’d survived far longer than he should have done.

Posted for Six Sentence Stories, where the prompt word this week is ‘Stroke’.

This is the final part of the Nova Luna story arc. We last visited Nova Luna here.

22 thoughts

  1. A beautiful conclusion to your space odyssey!

    (Isn’t it funny we are used in perceiving space as empty, when it is full of dark matter, dark energy, and who knows what else?)

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    1. I think the Nova Luna (and Sam) are gone for good now, Chris… but I suppose the opportunity’s there to go back in time a little to try to find out what happened… then there’s also the Nova Sunshine, although that doesn’t have the same ring to it…

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    1. Ah, yes, sorry Laura… that’s the thing with serials, isn’t it? I always found this with an interesting show I discovered on TV… it was always the last episode! 🤣

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  7. Excellent ghost story.
    Some settings seem to be especially supportive (or conducive) to scary stories… big old empty houses being the archetypical setting for such. But outer space (and space ships) are surely the equal (imo) for that background, low-grade anxiety. Maybe it’s a cultural thing from olden days, big house/castle being representative of success (and what all the serfs, workers, and other members of the 99% dreamt of) so, it being vacant, empty, worse abandoned.. bad ju ju
    Outer space comes at this cultural icon in the opposite direction. The overall environment is hostile (space) so any ship or station must, at least at the outset be a safe, nurturing space and to introduce inimical forces

    hey! great Six*

    *lol yeah, kinda get caught up in the fun of the craft and such

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    1. Thanks, Clark.
      This didn’t start out as a ghost story, but I noticed the twist a few parts in, and followed that angle. I say me, but it was Sam telling the tale, obviously! 🙂

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  8. I love the title for this, Tom. My mind went first to album of same title, then book. (the former, part of my vinyl collection, the latter, a book sadly, I’ve not read)
    In all respects, a most eerie story! You captured the “lost in the vastness of space” vibe so well. While I love a good ghost story, those taking place in outer space, now those are particularly chilling.

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    1. I think that may be to do with the vast separation of space, as you’ve mentioned, Denise. That and the undoubted loneliness that would be out there too.

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