In the Wake of Stars

Chapter 9: The Descent

The journey to the engine room felt more like a march toward a hidden beast. Shadows seemed to cling to the walls, stretching and slithering just out of sight, making every step heavier, every breath shallower. The oppressive silence grew thicker, broken only by the echoing clang of their boots on metal.

Nora glanced at Cal, who led the way with a set jaw and wary eyes. Behind her, Olsen’s presence was a constant reminder of what awaited them—a survivor, yes, but also a witness to horrors they hadn’t yet faced. She could feel his anxiety radiating through the dim corridors.

After what felt like hours, they reached the wide, circular door to the engine room. The door had deep, scratched grooves along the edges, as if someone had clawed at it in desperation. Olsen’s eyes were fixed on it, his face ghostly pale.

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” Cal murmured, glancing at Nora. “We could just turn back. Seal it off and forget about whatever’s in there.”

Nora raised an eyebrow, a small smirk escaping her. “Really? And here I thought you were eager to confront the terrifying unknown.”

Cal’s smirk mirrored hers, but his eyes stayed cold. “I’m just making sure you’re ready. This… whatever’s in there, it’s not going to go easy on you.”

“Right back at you,” she shot back. Beneath the teasing, a surge of adrenaline simmered, half-fueled by her determination and half by the tension with Cal that seemed to pulse in moments like this.

Olsen’s voice was shaky. “This isn’t a game. Whatever happened to the crew—whatever got inside our heads—it’s strongest here. We… we could lose ourselves.”

Cal’s gaze hardened. “Then we’d better keep our heads on straight, shouldn’t we?”

They nodded, and Cal leaned into the control panel beside the door, keying in the manual override. The door released with a guttural hiss, grinding open to reveal the cavernous expanse of the engine room.

Inside, the walls pulsed with the hum of the ship’s core systems. Dim emergency lights cast eerie shadows across the room, and Nora’s gaze traced the maze of pipes and cables that lined the walls. The engine, a massive, cold metallic heart, loomed at the center, each pulse an ominous reminder of the power that sustained them.

“Everyone who came down here alone disappeared,” Olsen muttered, barely stepping through the door. “Or… came back changed.”

A chill ran through Nora as she glanced at him. “Changed how?”

Olsen’s eyes darkened, and he whispered, “They… stopped speaking. Kept staring at things we couldn’t see, like they were listening to someone. Then, they just… left. Wandered off, like the ship was calling them.”

The silence deepened as they took in the gravity of his words, and Nora felt a pulse of fear. But Cal moved forward, almost recklessly, running his hand along the walls. His eyes were sharp, searching for any sign of what had taken hold of this place.

“What are you looking for?” Nora asked, keeping her voice low.

“There’s always a reason,” he said, almost to himself. “Some kind of trigger, an energy surge—something that set this whole thing off. If we find it, we might be able to stop it.”

They began to fan out, with Nora and Cal moving deeper into the room while Olsen remained near the entrance, his eyes darting back and forth, wary of shadows that only he seemed to see.

As she stepped closer to the engine, Nora noticed something strange—a dark, reddish smear along one of the panels. Her stomach clenched. She reached out, lightly touching the dried streak with her fingertips.