[ 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 .

`` What was that?!'' 
 
 `` Calm down, lad! Ol' buckets like this are full of creaks and groans. If I lose a bloody finger in this thing because you're busy listening to the damn walls then I'll take back whatever I lose from you! Now hand me that wrench.'' 
 
 Wide-eyed, Callum dropped his gaze from the ceiling down to the engine room floor and passed the tool to the outstretched hand emanating from beneath the humming machinery. 
 
 `` Thank ye. Nah, truth is the things you worry about out here do n't make no sound. What's that old saying,'In space no one can hear you scream'? Should be'In space you do n't hear nothin' coming'. I was like you once, jumping out my skin at every little shake and rattle. S'not easy being thrown into a can where the only thing separating you from billions of miles of certain death is a few sheets of cheap metal. But I got used to it, we all do. In time I came to think of that empty blackness as beautiful, in its own way. Almost like, if so much of the universe is cold emptiness then maybe that's the right way o' things, if you catch my meaning. Maybe matter and life are the exception, the aberration.'' 
 
 Callum mulled it over, `` I think I understand what you mean...'' 
 
 `` Do n't understand too hard, boy. Thinkin' like that makes the outside seem welcoming, almost inviting. I should know, I'd spend hours after shift every day sitting in front of them big windows in the viewing suite up on Deck 9, just staring out at eternity. Even with the place to me'self and the lights down real low you ca n't see much of the stars, so I'd sit there surrounded by the blackness, gawpin' till my eyes stung. That's when I saw it.'' 
 
 The old steel structure of the ship creaked and shuddered, causing the lights to flicker in the grimy engine room. Callum let out a quiet whimper and hoped it had n't been heard. `` Saw what, Shamus? What did you see?!'' 
 
 `` I've no wish to give it a name, lad. Would n't even know what to call it if I did. All I know is, stare at nothing for long enough and you'll notice different shades o' darkness. Hues of black, know what I mean? Thought me eyes was playing tricks on me, conjouring shapes and shadows out of the void. I saw something materialise out of the darkness, traced the shape from the top of the window to the bottom,'till I saw what it was.'' 
 
 Shamus slid out from under the engine bay and sat up to look at Callum, who sat open mouthed and breath held, staring back at him. 
 
 `` It was an eye. One massive, unblinking, lidless eye. I stared at it and, by space, it stared right back at me. I did n't bother to make out what it was attached to, I ran out of that viewing suite and I have n't been back to Deck 9 since. I do n't know much lad, but I know malevolence when I see it and I damn well saw it out there. I do n't look out the windows no more, alls I care about is engines. Way I see it, if the engines run right then whatever's out there is always one step behind. I do n't like to think about what happens if it ever catches up to us.'' 
 
 The ship creaked once more, but Callum did n't hear it. All he heard was the hum of the engines, propelling him through a hostile void.
