One Way to Create a Ghost World

The Word Count, including this line, is 1993.

“Even this Universe is considered a Parallel Universe according to the other Parallel Universes. Each one thinks they are the main Universe. And the other thousand Universes are the Parallel Universes.”¹

“There are ghosts in every Universe - both the Parallel Universes and the main Universe. And there are a lot of ghost worlds in every Universe, and Parallel Universe, too. In fact, there are about five to ten thousand per Universe – and Parallel Universe. This is soon to be one of those worlds.”¹

One Way to Create a Ghost World

     No one had lived on the Phathus Moon Colony One in over a hundred years. It was one of the first casualties of the fourth World War. Even though it wasn’t actually in that war all three sides thought it was being used by the other sides for weapons, especially Death Missiles, and warriors. None of them were using the moon colony. But the Phathus Moon Base One had both.

     Phathus planned on creating fifteen colonies and bases on the moon. And each one would hold twenty thousand and five thousand. But the war ended that project. It was only being done because of overpopulation. And that wasn’t a problem anymore thanks to that war.

     The Phathusians where using Smart Death Missile technology. Which meant only the living were being killed. And they could be programmed only to kill people too. That meant animals, plants, flowers etc. didn’t need to die too. But some of them did. It all depended on which side it was. And who within each side too. All three sides were doing it.

     Only one out a hundred people killed ended up being ghosts. Which meant two hundred from the colony and fifty from the bases became ghosts. Out that two hundred and fifty ghosts only fifteen were still there. And all of them were military.

     “I don’t know what happened to all the other ghosts here,” said Commander Luwegy. “They all just seemed to disappear one by one. Maybe it had something to do with the Death Missiles.”

     “Are you thinking about the war again, Commander?” That question came from Hictinan. Hictinan was behind Master Control. Commander Luwegy was floating back and forth behind Hictinan. If he was alive, he would had been pacing up and down.

     “You know I think about that war every day,” said Commander Luwegy. “And how we lost it.”

     “We didn’t lose it,” said Tini. Tini was seated right next to Hictinan. “All three sides are representatives here.”

     “All three sides are represented here in Control Central,” said Hictinan. He was busy at work working on something with Master Control. His little fingers were flying all over the controls.

     “You all know I consider it a lose because the last few years the war had shifted between the three sides on Phathus to them teaming up against us,” said Commander Luwegy. “I know they didn’t actually team up. But sometimes it sure looked like they were.”

     “It was almost a hundred years ago,” said Tini. “Aren’t you ever going to stop thinking about that? We have this conversation every day.”

     “I am never going to forget what happened to us,” said Commander Luwegy. “Phathus made us ghosts. And I’m not going give up until we make them all ghosts too.”

     Commander Luwegy stopt floating back and forth. He sat down in his command chair right behind Hictinan and Tini. “There were ten thousand Smart Death Missiles when that war ended. How many do we still have?”

     “It’s the same as yesterday when you asked,” said Hictinan. “We have about a thousand of them left.

     “How long before we can launch another one at Phathus? It’s been almost twenty-eight years,” said Commander Luwegy. “And I’m getting tired of waiting.”

     “The protective shield around Phathus is just too strong,” said Hictinan. “But I am working on a Death Missile that might just through it.”

     “What about getting help from our kind on Phathus?” Commander Luwegy addressed that question to Tini.

     “I have been trying to contact the ghosts on Phathus,” said Tini. “But according to our reading there aren’t any. The Phathusians must have a way to block them from our scanners.”

     “Keep trying,” said Commander Luwegy. “I can’t believe they have been able to block all the ghosts from us. What about new ghosts? People die every day. Find me a new ghost.”

     “I’ve already started scanning for them,” said Tini. “But so far I haven’t been able to find any. Maybe whatever is blocking us from the older ghosts it can with the new one, as soon as they become ghosts, too.”

     “If that’s true then it’s up to the Death Missiles,” said Commander Luwegy. “We only need one of them to destroy their Protective Shield. Once that’s down we can launch the rest of them.”

*******

     It was another three hours before the next attack could begin. Commander Luwegy returns to his Resting Place until then. Ghosts don’t really need sleep. No one on Phathus did. But Commander Luwegy insisted everyone there get a few hours of each day.

     Commander Luwegy wanted to be contacted as soon as the Death Missile was ready to launch. He could have stayed there. But just waiting for it to happen was boring. So he decided to rest while he could. When Hictinan contacted him he wasn’t really resting. But he did have to change into something clean before he joined Hictinan and Tini in Control Central.

     “Fire when ready,” said Commander Luwegy barely after he got there. He didn’t even wait before he sat down.

     “Six, five, four, three, two, one firing now.” Hictinan hit a button on Master Control. A few seconds later Commander Luwegy, Hictinan and Tini watch the Main Monitor in front of them as a Death Missile sailed past them and headed for Phathus. Another few seconds passed before that missile hit phathus.

     “Well, did it destroy the Protective Shield or not? It sure doesn’t look like it did to me,” said Commander Luwegy.

     “It hit it,” said Hictinan. “But it didn’t destroy it. There is some good new though. It has been damaged. Another Death Missile or two and it will be destroyed.”

     “Why did you have more than one of them ready – just in case of something like this? You should have had at least four more ready,” said Commander Luwegy.

     “I wasn’t sure it would work,” said Hictinan. “And it takes a long time to reprogram them. You said you wanted it launched as fast as possible.”

     “I’m surprised the Phathusians haven’t attacked back in all these years,” said Tini. “We have been attacking them at least once, usually two or three, times every day.”

     “They did try to do it a few years ago,” said Hictinan. “But they never did it.”

     “Probably because they realized it was a waste of a good Death Missile they may need to defend themselves against what they consider a real threat,” said Commander Luwegy. “After all, we are already dead.”

     Just then a loud beep could be heard near Tini. She pushes a button to turn it off. Then she looked up at the Main Monitor. There were now words on it. Words that only Tini could see. “The Death Missile did more damage than we thought. When it hit the Protective Shield it sent a Sonic Blast toward Phathus. We can now contact the ghosts down there.”

     After a few seconds she added, “We were right. Most of the ghosts down there are in one spot.”

     “Contact them,” said Commander Luwegy. “Tell them to find the Controls for the Protective Shield – and destroy it.”

     “I have already begun doing that,” said Tini. “But what if they don’t want to help us?”

     “Remind them of what Phathus has done to them,” said Commander Luwegy. “If not tell them it’s an order. In fact, just contact he Military. They will have to follow my orders.”

     Commander Luwegy sat back in his chair – and relaxed. After a few minutes the way he was acting said he was getting bored again. “How much longer on those Death Missiles?”

     “It’s shouldn’t take too much longer,” said Hictinan. “I already set up a few more just in case this one worked but not completely. Which it didn’t. All they need is a little bit more re-programming before they are ready to be launched too.”

     “What about the ghosts on the planet? Have you contacted them yet?” Commander Luwegy addressed those questions to Tini.

     “I have,” said Tini. “And they are looking for the Protective Shield Controls right now. But this may take some time. After all, Phathus is a big planet.”

*******

     After about half an hour, forty minutes, Commander Luwegy got the answer he had been waiting for. “The Death Missiles are ready to launch,” said Hictinan.

     “Launch them,” said Commander Luwegy. “Aim them at the damaged part. Destroy that Protective Shield.”

     Hictinan hit the launch button again. But instead of only one missile passing by them three of them did. They headed toward the planet below – but they didn’t hit the Protective Shield. Just seconds before they do the Protective Shield cracked into a billion pieces, and falls to Phathus. With nowhere else to go those three missiles hit Phathus - hard.

     “Launch all remaining missiles,” said Commander Luwegy. “Destroy Phathus.” A few seconds later what looked like a million missiles flew pass them. Once pass some of them separate from the others. They head for other parts of the planet. The Death Missiles were programmed to destroy a specific part of Phathus.

     Within a few hours Commander luwegy got what he wanted. Phathus was now a ghost world. Everyone on that planet still there was a ghost. But it didn’t go exactly was planned. Commander Luwegy got his ghost world – but he didn’t get the ghosts.

     The new ghost world hated Commander Luwegy and the other ghosts at the moon base – especially Commander Luwegy. They blame them, him, for what happened to them. If Commander Luwegy wanted revenge on Phathus he got it. But if he wanted an army of ghosts he even got that in a way too. Only that army was out to kill him.

*******

     It took them about two months to destroy the moon base. But Phathus did it. The reason why it took so long was because they had been a Peace Planet ever since the war ended. There hadn’t been a weapon on there, especially a death weapon, since then. It took them some time to build them. And even then it wasn’t easy. After all, it had been almost a hundred years since peace broke out. Most Phathusians didn’t even know how to build a weapon.

     The weapons they did create wasn’t very good. But they were good enough. They were sure that the moon base ghosts were going to destroy them. Most of them didn’t even know why their own moon base did it. A lot thought it was a secret government operation gone bad. They didn’t know fellow ghosts were behind it. And for most they probably never would.

     Those who thought it was a government operation gone bad figured it did because of one individual, maybe a group of them, who was trying to take over Phathus. Maybe that was the plan all along. But instead of taking over the planet all they did was to create a ghost world.

     “So that’s why they didn’t try to attack us,” said Commander Luwegy. “And why they didn’t attack them a few years ago. They are a Peace Planet. At least they were until now.” Commander Luwegy had one last thoughts before the end of all the ghosts on the moon, “I guess you can kill a ghost after they are already dead.”

The End?

¹Excerps from “My Adventures” not yet Written by SpaceFaction aka PureSciFi.