Echoes Of The Exoplanet

The First Screams.

"No one can hear your screams in space" What a lie... I woke up to the sound of a distant shrill scream echoing throughout the Arcadis wing. I heard no alarms, and no hint of movement outside of the barracks, I made my way out of bed, keeping my ears perked for any other noise but the station was as eerily silent as you'd expect it to be. There was a part of me that thought maybe I had dreamt it, woken myself up in a cold sweat just to make a fool of myself, but I could feel it, this felt real. I made my way out of my quarters, passing by the other closed doors as I made my way into the common room that connects the quarters to the rest of the station, it was dark but I've been on the station long enough to know where every obstacle is, there was a part of me hoping to hear a noise, something that would stop the ringing silence that was deafening me, but what noise would I expect to hear? As if our cruel god answered my prayers, i hear another scream, not any closer but much more... robotic?

The last thing to hope for on a station floating in space is a murderer or something, but better a robot than whatever could be out here with us. This at least solidifies my sanity, but now poses a new question: why is it screaming and where is it from? It sounds... I follow the scream further, making my way out of the bounds of the Arcadis wing, and into the Ecstasis wing. The Arcadis wing is the tech wing, there's few workers here, lovingly nicknamed "Droids" by the residents of the station, but they're more than praised, they keep the station in pristine condition, and occasionally go out of their way to make smaller repairs when they're feeling generous. The Ecstasis wing is the "school" wing, as the residents aptly named it, this is where people choose what path they want to study to find their place in the station, this is where children and adults alike go to study, nicknamed the "Novitiates." There's a rhythmic ticking from the clocks on the walls, the hum of vending machines, and cool air rushing through the halls of Ecstasis, if it weren't for my predicament I'd be more inclined to get a snack and enjoy the peace but no matter. I push on through the hallways, occasionally looking around corners for any sight of the voice, but apart from the ambiance of the machinery, nothing, not so much as a whisper, as if the scream simply materializes from the open space, lets out its call, and fades back into the void.

The more I think about it the harder it is to wrap my head around it, I can't seem to make sense of its whereabouts. I made my way to the Petrichor wing, aka the greenhouse, the second biggest wing on the station, the scent of wet soil and other earthy fragrances wafted into my nose the moment the entry doors slid open, thankfully there were people here, some of the workers, the "GreenFingers," Appreciate the silence of the night and prefer to do their work while the station is fast asleep, I approach one of the workers mindlessly spraying a plant, tapping her shoulder when she turns around I see shes dawning a small white rectangle on her shirt that reads "Isa." Her tired expression tells me enough about her mood but I push on with my questions "Did you hear that scream? Do you know where or what it's coming from?" She seems to be daydreaming, I can't expect her to have heard anything outside of her thoughts, expectedly, she shakes her head, her voice smooth and soft as she speaks "A scream? No, are you sure you heard one?" Her head tilts to the left as she looks up at me with a concerned look "You look tired, could you just need sleep?"