[ WP ] Sailors have always been a superstitious bunch . In the long stretches of darkness and isolation between stars superstitions still run high . So let 's hear a ghost story from deep space .

Jim had drawn the short straw for night shift in the engine room. He would have volunteered if he had n't. Night shift was nice, the lights were dimmed aboard the ship in the off hours, stem to stern. Captain's orders, it allowed better regulation of circadian rhythms for the rest of the crew and let Jim avoid the dazzling brilliance that passed for `` day'' aboard the cruiser. He supposed it was his fault, born and raised on Sian where the noon time sun was little brighter than a full moon on Earth. 
 
 The engine hummed softly as Jim performed routine maintenance. The other man on duty was Stuart, about as salty a sailor as Jim had ever seen, with hair that grew only in patches and a scar that ran from jaw to eyebrow beneath an eye patch. Jim was more than a little afraid of Stu. 
 
 `` Fluid'll need changing'' Jim nearly leaped from his skin. 
 
 Drawing a shaking breath he responded `` maintenance logs shows it was changed eight hours ago.'' 
 
 `` Maintenance logs is wrong, then. Changed up the fluid but did n't clean the filter. Always clean the filter. Drain, clean the filter, fill. Not so hard is it?'' 
 
 `` Er, no...'' Jim checked the dip stick and noted the reactor cyclant was a touch discolored. 
 
 `` Well tell that to the day shift crew! Filter needs cleaning every time the fluid's changed. You're not like Alston, I can tell. Pompos ass, thinks'cuz he studied engineering he knows how to be an engineer. Well I say if you want clean cyclant you need a clean filter. I know this engine inside and out I do. Come here, I'll show you how to clean the filter. Always use a number two brush, number three's too stiff and if you use a number one you'll be here all shift...'' 
 
 Jim learned a lot as they worked, and duties finished almost two hours before the end of their shift. Stu sat down on one of the benches and drew out a flask. `` You're a hard worker, Jim, and you listen what I tell you. So now let's talk about the airlocks.'' 
 
 `` Airlocks?'' Jim asked, taking the proffered flask. It held rum, strong enough to make his eyes water and sweet as candy. 
 
 `` Aye, the airlocks. You'll use'em now and again, replace ablation plate, drive needs work on the outside, you'll make your way outside from time to time. But it's the airlocks you need to look out for.'' 
 
 `` What do you mean?'' He took another swig and passed the flask back. 
 
 `` You're not the first lad in space, Jim, and you certainly wo n't be the last. There have been others out there, you know, and not all of'em make it back planetside.'' 
 
 `` You mean to watch out for mechanical failure?'' 
 
 `` Aye. And turn the lights off when you get back in.'' 
 
 `` Lights? Why?'' 
 
 `` There's a story, and old one. I heard it on a night like this when I was your age. You heard of the Machanna?'' 
 
 `` Sure, heard about it in school, lost to the stars out around Tau 3, it's held up as a prime example of design failure.'' 
 
 `` Oh aye, coolant had to be jettisoned from outside, had to be done once a week or the reactor'd overheat. Did they tell you in academy why they could n't? No, I suppose not. That's not a popular story, not sanctioned and all that. Well they gave the job to a new kid, a sort of hazing. Coolant was a gel back then, was real funny to tell the new kid he needed to clean his suit before they could let him back in. Well, they gave the kid the job, and of course he gets the coolant all over himself, no way not to. They tell him he's got ta clean his suit before they let him back in, so he starts to panic, yeah, because he's already low on air. He flails around a bit, loses most of his tools, everything but his number six scraper. The folks inside see him and tell him to stop, but he's not listenin' see, because he things he's got to clean his suit. So he starts at it with the scraper, and you ca n't clean a suit with a scraper, it just ca n't be done, and sure as shit the suit gets a puncture. 
 
 `` Now the boy was in a fuss before, but now he's in a panic. They're shouting over the radio to get inside the airlock, it's good enough, it was just a joke. Finally the kid gets the message, and pulls himself in. He's bleedin air fast and they dump emergency tanks to equalize the pressure inside the airlock. Kid thinks he's safe and pulls off his helmet. He's half blind, sweat in his eyes, out of breath, so he reaches up to open the door, but the airlock's faulty, the outer door blows off, vents the atmosphere in the airlock and takes the kid with it.'' 
 
 `` Holy shit.'' 
 
 `` So the crew's watchin him out there. They do n't tell you in academy, but vacuum does n't kill you like they used to think it did. It's a hard death out there, your skin swells up, your eyes get so dry they'll crack, and there's no relief until you suffocate. And suffocate they did, it was a full ten minutes before the boy quit movin. But now they've got a problem,'cuz the kid's still got his tether on. So the crew draws straws to see who'll cut the tether to let him drift free, and it's the first mate that draws the short straw. 
 
 `` So he suits up, and while he's doing it they lose sight of the body. So the mate, see, he goes to the other airlock, and he's just about to cycle into it when he looks through the window, and standing there's the kid. So of course there's a panic, and they vent the airlock, send the body back out into space, they fire up the engines and gun it for home, but the tether snaps and the body floats free.'' 
 
 `` But the Machanna never made it home, reactor overheated. No survivors.'' 
 
 `` Aye, there was three airlocks on the Machanna, all logged by the computer. They analyzed the black box on it, and do you know what they found? That last airlock? Cycled, from the outside. The kid's still out there, Jim, in a panic, trying to get back inside the ship. But ships run dark on the outside, aye?'' 
 
 `` Right... except...'' 
 
 `` Except for the airlocks, Jim. So we turn the lights off in the airlocks so he ca n't find'em. Aye?'' 
 
 `` Aye.''
