Where Stars Gnash Their Teeth
My first attempt at horror in a long time. Hope you enjoy!
"How are things looking, Captain?"
Alex slid into the chair opposite his commanding officer, a cup in each paw. Captain Howard, a fellow fox, took one without looking.
"All systems operating within expectations."
"Ah, good," said Alex, cradling his cup. He brought it to his maw, took a sip, then grimaced. Deciding the caffeine wasn't worth the taste, he dropped the cup in a holder near his seat. His boss downed his coffee without complaint.
"So… any good news?"
"Not yet," Howard sighed and shook his head. "We were already behind—bastards are gonna get me screamed at."
"Well, it isn't your fault, sir!"
"Tell corporate that."
They sat in silence for a tense moment. Alex tried thinking of a good conversation piece, looking around the cockpit as if blank walls would give him any inspiration. The coffee? He supposed that was as good as anything.
“What do you think of the cof—"
The flight console's built-in commline suddenly blared with an awful ring that made Alex wince.
“It's terrible," replied Howard, before tapping a finger against one of the console's touchscreens.
"Captain?" The familiar voice of Maurice Walker chimed out of the comm. He was their usual go-between local government in the system. Alex never met him in person and didn't know what he looked like, but he always envisioned some kind of dog in a fancy pantsy suit. Government types always wore suits.
"Reporting," Howard straightened up in his seat and smoothed out the wrinkles in his white uniform. His voice was flat, cold, but professional. A perfect tone cultivated over years of dealing with low-level government officials. Any previous sense of frustration lost between accepting the call and responding to it.
"Your request was approved; sorry for the delay."
"No hard feelings, Walker, I understand."
Walker paused a moment.
"The council was… __they were pretty reluctant to approve this one, Howard."
"I noticed."
"Seems like the Chittering's been very active."
"They're always active," the fox said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"Not like this."
Howard sighed. Delay after delay stacked on top of each other, and he'd be the one to take the heat over it. The company didn't care if the Chitter were singing show tunes. They couldn't dock their pay. Howard's, however....
"Listen, I appreciate it, Walker, but we really gotta get this show to Broadway. "
"Gotcha—just be careful. Walker out."
Walker's ID and voice blinked out along with the call screen. Howard keyed up the intercom while Alex began pulling the ship's systems off standby.
"This is your captain speaking. We got the nod. Prepare for travel and have your Earsets ready."
Cheers rang out through the ship like turbulence. Howard pretended not to hear the breaches in professionalism as crew members let their feelings slip about waiting for so long.
"Everything's warm and ready to move, sir!" Alex said, paws working over complex panels with an ease that impressed even Howard sometimes. He nodded.
The ship rumbled as it began to move for the first time in days. The engines shuddered, groaning like an old man pulled out of a pleasant nap. Alex felt his chest tighten as the ship lurched forward. He placed a paw over the dashboard to steady himself.
Look up.
He bit his lip as he stared at the spread of electronic and mechanical instruments before him. Touchpads, panels, keys, levers, buttons, and blinking lights, a mix of modern and vintage parts replaced as necessary and only with great reluctance from the company. The young pilot wondered how long before this cargo freighter transformed into the ship of Theseus—little bits replaced here and there until the entire thing comprised different parts. Alex sighed.
Come on! You a kit or something?! Just look up for a second!
He took a deep breath and looked.
An infinite black met him. Empty and indifferent to the pocket of life in its midst. No stars burned in the distance. No natural light could be spotted either by eye or long-range scanner. There might have been planets out there somewhere like coins dropped into the ocean, but he couldn't see them. He stared out at nothing with wide eyes, and nothing stared back.
"Kid."
Howard's voice snapped the younger fox out of his mental block. The captain stared out of the viewscreen. His ears twitched. They were black fur with small patches of gray around the edges. His paws trembled as he gripped the control yoke.
"Don't let it get to you."
He drove the yoke forward, boosting power to the engines. The ship's rumbling smoothed out as it gained speed. The old man complaining about his nap broke out of his stupor. Captain Howard motioned towards a compartment near Alex. The younger fox pulled it open and retrieved a few pairs of Earsets.
"Crew, we're approaching the line; put on your ears and keep them on!"
Sitting back down, Alex clutched two sets of metallic fox ears. Custom built and much more expensive than the odd button or lever replacement the company always resisted shelling out for. He slipped his on first. They fit over his ears perfectly. He then clicked a small button on the side of each, sealing them one at a time with a hiss. With his on, Alex hurried to secure Howard's while his superior focused on flying towards the invisible line between Common and Chitterspace.
"Crew report in," ordered Howard as soon as his were set.
Responses came in through their headsets. Each waited their turn to speak, following an unspoken queue. The officers first, then security, engineers, etc. Alex mentally ticked off each name. Regulations demanded both pilots hear every member of the crew report before they were allowed to enter Chitterspace—a necessary if tedious rule. When they finally hit the last man, Howard closed with his usual speech:
"Do your jobs well, and we'll be through this fucker in under a day. Oh, do remember all speech through your headsets is recorded and reviewed by the company, so don't swear too much."
The two foxes smirked at each other as a hail of curses rippled through the comm.
The first few hours were uneventful. Officers called in for the odd report, but "All clear!" seemed the order of the day. Alex busied himself with checking and rechecking systems while the Captain stared out into the absolute nothing of Chitterspace through the viewport.
"How you holding up?"
Howard's voice rang in Alex's ears with a soft buzz. The younger fox glanced over at his superior in both rank and age and held up a thumb.
“I wanna hear you say it."
Mouthing a quick “Sorry!" Alex switched to the private line with a mental command. The Captain could setup and kill private lines at will with any member of the crew provided their ears were on.
"I'm good!" he said, smiling.
It always took a bit to get used to. The Earset maintained an airtight seal, cutting you off completely from sound around you. You could share a room with someone, talk to them, and see their lips move, yet you couldn't hear anything but their voice. Howard grabbed his coffee out of the cup holder without a sound. Alex heard a slurp, saw it, but didn't hear the jostling of the cup.
"Just let me know if things get to you again."
Alex frowned.
“Sir, last time wasn't—"
"I mean it, kid; that's an order."
"Yes, sir."
They fell back into silence.
"Captain? Survey Officer Clark, speaking."
A new voice buzzed in Howard's ear, prompting him to switch to another private line.
"Report's a little early, Clark."
"It isn't that sir. Scanners picked up a distortion near the starboard wing."
Howard glanced over at his co-pilot. Alex seemed immersed in his flight console.
"Do you have lights on it?" he asked.
"Not yet," replied Clark.
"Get a visual. Until someone sees one of those things, I don't want to assume anything."
"Yes, sir."
----
Alex glanced at Howard. The older fox clutched his controls tight, eyes focused. His lips moved, but no sound came out of them. Nothing he could hear, at least. Alex looked at the viewscreen. Nothing—It was clear something was up, though. The junior pilot was about to ask his superior what was happening when he heard it:
Click...click...click….
It was distant. Hard to notice in normal circumstances. It wouldn't be of any concern had it not come from outside the Earset.
"Captain?!"
Howard froze. His maw hung open, lips paused in the middle of a wordless sentence. At the same time, The commonline buzzed with chatter between various crew members. All were uncertain, hoping it wasn't what they all knew it was; as if acknowledging the devil would get him to look at you.
"Uhh, you guys hear that?"
"Who's making that noise?"
"That's some audio glitch… right?"
Howard's lip trembled. They shouldn't be able to hear the clicking at all! Had the Chitter managed to get around the Earsets? Break them?! The fox spoke and felt his throat rumble in response, but didn't hear his own voice. The device wasn't broken. Howard considered turning the ship around, but he knew that was too risky. Long range scanners wouldn't work inside or out of this void. If you fell off the charted path in Chitterspace, you weren't ever finding your way back out. No. They had to stay the course.
"Attention Crew!"
Howard poured as much authority into his voice as he could manage, forcing down his own sense of dread. He cut through the general chatter like an ice pick through jelly, prompting the crew to immediately fall silent.
"A Chitter is in the area! I remind everyone to remain calm and keep your ears on!"
Murmurs rippled through the commonline. Dozens of conversations filtered through at once, a few panicked. Officers quickly cut in to offer orders and reassurances. Alex felt his chest tighten. Fear began to coil around him like a snake slipping around prey.
Click. Click. Click.
"Alex?"
Alex felt the Captain's paw on his shoulder. Their eyes met—emeralds to emeralds.
"I'm fine," he replied. Howard stared at him like he didn't believe it, then nodded.
"Okay."
The pair returned to their respective duties.
Click. Click. Click.
It was louder now. Faster. From light tapping at the edge of hearing to what sounded like claws stabbing the wall behind him. It hadn't been that long, perhaps another hour, but the constant noise jammed into Howard's patience like a finger poking him in the back. He couldn't even get used to it. His mind seemed incapable of adjusting to the rhythmic clicking. The crew didn't fare much better. Every once in a while, someone would curse over the commonline. First, it was humorous, joking, but as the chittering went on with no end in sight, it turned into genuine frustration. Some complained under their breath, Howard could ignore that. Others erupted into ranting and raving. Officers were quick to put any in line who went that far. Discipline was maintained. Barely.
"Sir?"
Officer Clark's voice came in through the fox's headset.
"Report?" he asked.
"We have visual."
Howard's eyes grew wide. He clicked a few keys on a panel to his left, leaning over to block the screen from Alex's view.
"Fuck!"
The word slipped out of his maw like a glass coated in butter. Floodlights beamed out into the inky dark of Chitterspace, illuminating almost nothing. It was enough, though. Perhaps they were allowed just enough. The floodlight revealed a massive set of teeth.
Alex saw The Captain lean over his console and knew something was wrong.
He felt it. Every click sent a shudder through his body. He felt a rumble in his throat and realized he was whimpering, or screaming, he couldn't tell which. He clamped a paw over his maw, not that anyone could have heard it.
Look up.
He shook his head. Fuck that. Alex kept his eyes on the console. He checked systems, read all clears, checked the scanners--
The radar displayed several blips dead ahead and close.
Look up.
The fox screamed in absolute silence.
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick
Five Chitter clicked in a chorus of bruxing teeth. Floodlights shone on bloody, weeping gums. Teeth snapped so hard against each other that some cracked and fragmented, sending bits of yellowish-red enamel off into the void. There was nothing to see beyond them. No lips, no bodies if they had any. At the very edges of each, Alex eyed tiny, trailing distortions. An unsettling he could only describe as a fishing lure pulled through water. They were moving with the ship.
"AGHHHHHH!"
The commonline exploded with sudden screams. Dozens of voices all at once. Howard jumped out of his seat with a silent yelp of his own.
"OFFICERS!?" Switching to the commonline, Howard shouted, but his voice couldn't get through. The ice pick that once jammed through jelly now hit rock. Crew members howled in agony. In undulating, frantic tones that rose and fell in pitch almost at random. Alex gripped his ears. Ripped at them like a wild animal tearing at a muzzle. Howard shouted "NO!" and wrestled the other man's paws away. Alex fought him, eyes wide with panic. The officers were screaming too, the older fox realized. He flipped through private channels and found nothing but different bricks in a wall noise. His ears hurt underneath his headset. They might even have bled. He ran a single mental command to his device.
Terminate all channels.
Silence.
Almost.
Click.
The older fox pulled the younger into a tight hug, squeezing him in hopes that it would be a momentary distraction from the ceaseless bruxing of the Chitter, even as the sound beat into their heads like light hammer blows against a very long nail. Howard felt Alex's chest rise and fall rapidly; a step away from a full-blown panic attack. He opened up a new channel between them. The only channel.
Before he spoke, the Captain thought about the rest of his crew beyond the cockpit. He imagined them writhing in agony, screaming, crying, yet none of them able to hear each other's suffering. Over a hundred people dying alone yet right next to each other. Howard felt tears wet his graying face.
"Kid?" he begged, suppressing a sob.
He heard nothing but breathing.
"Kid, you're okay!"
That was a lie, and both knew it. He wasn't, and neither was Howard, but he said as much anyway. Repeated it. If you told a lie enough times, you'd believe it at some point. The younger fox buried his face into his superior's chest and wept.
Howard looked at the viewscreen.
He could only see teeth.