WEP October 2024 – What Scares You
Here is my entry to the WEP October challenge. Not a horror story, but a science fiction story, although it answers the question of the challenge. I hope.
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Neva snuggled deeper into the armchair and smiled into the darkness. Behind the wide window of her sister Saray’s room, the nightlife of Erenburg, the planetary capital of Vega Siberia, hummed with energy. Inside, sinister skeletons whisked around the vid’s holo display, their swords glittering, as they threatened a bunch of cowed people in a small enclosure. Dramatic music blared from the vid’s audio.
Neva’s current leave from her post as an elite combat officer of the Fleet – a SPECTer – proved unexpectedly delightful. Her lips twitched in amusement. Her tours of duty would’ve been so much easier if her enemies were as farcical as these cinematic skeletons. With prop swords. She almost giggled but refrained at the last moment. She didn’t want to spoil the vid for Saray and Saray’s friend Galy.
Still smiling, Neva dozed off and missed the skeletons’ grand finale, but she woke up to Galy’s piercing squeal.
“What?” Neva asked sharply. Her body tensed to meet the unknown danger. She was half-out of the chair, hands in fighting position, eyes scanning the room rapidly, but all she could see were the names of the vid’s creators rolling down the blue holographic sheet. Both girls eyed her with alarm. She sank back into her chair. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.
“You fell asleep,” Saray said. “It’s the best horror vid of the past two years. It won awards, and you fell asleep.”
“Horror?” Neva said faintly. “I thought it was a comedy.”
“You philistine,” Saray declared.
“No, she is just tired,” Galy said. “Leave your sister alone. I’m not surprised she is hair triggered. I saw the news. Neva was in the thick of that mess on Pechora. Weren’t you?”
“Yes,” Neva said. She didn’t want to talk about Pechora. It had been too intense, too traumatic.
“I’m sorry, sis,” Saray mumbled contritely and kissed Neva’s cheek. “Of course. You just rest. I’ll bring snacks.”
She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with two full trays of local delectables, including Neva’s favorite cheese balls.
“Is that vid really considered scary?” Neva asked. A warm ball melted in her mouth.
Both girls nodded in unison.
“But those skeletons were funny,” Neva said. “Were you really scared?”
“Well,” Galy said thoughtfully. “It was …” she hesitated before continuing, “… thrilling. Made my nerves tingle: the story, the music, the emotional subtext.”
“But would you be frightened by hopping skeletons in real life?” Neva persisted. “They were cartoonish.”
“Maybe,” Galy allowed with a grimace. “But I’m not brave, really. Some things truly scare me.”
“Me too,” Saray piped in.
“What?” Neva asked.
Saray perched beside Neva on the wide arm support of her chair and hugged her sister. “I hate snakes. They are slimy.”
Neva glanced at her sister in surprise. “Where did you see snakes? You live in a metropolis. There are no snakes in cities.”
“In a zoo. They have snakes from the jungle of the Archipelago.”
“And septopuses,” Galy chimed in. “Have you seen them, Neva? They are huge and scary. We have a family in the city zoo, too.”
“I saw.” Neva nodded.
“Would you be afraid to meet one in life?” Saray asked. “I know you SPECTers are not supposed to be afraid of anything, but it doesn’t feel human to be afraid of nothing.”
Neva shrugged. “True, but I’m not afraid of animals. There is no malice in them. They just do what their instincts demand. If you’re careful and prepared, you can be safe with any animal. Of course, if you do something stupid—” She popped another cheese ball onto her mouth and chewed happily. “Your own stupidity can kill you, but don’t blame the animals.”
“Not even the monsters of Lemuria?” Galy asked. Her blue eyes sparkled with interest.
Neva shook her head. “Those poor suckers are huge and terrifying, true, but I have been on Lemuria three times, guarding scientists, and I never lost any of my charges. And none of the monsters ever hurt me or a member of my team.”
“Is there anything that scares you?” Saray’s fingers caressed Neva’s shoulder. “My heroic SPECTer sister.”
“What does SPECTer stand for, anyway?” Galy asked.
“Space Planet Elite Combat Team,” Neva translated automatically. “But yeah, something scares me. Very much. Human evil.”
“Pechora,” Saray whispered. “We saw the documentaries.”
“Yeah.” Neva’s mood turned grim at the memories. “That dictator killed and tortured and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of people, and nobody would stand up to him. The atrocities he perpetrated …” Her hands bunched into fists. “The entire continent was poisoned by fear. Decency, honor, kindness—all erased. People betrayed their family and friends because they were terrified. Nobody dared to talk of anything. Even after we killed that murderous thug and his associates.”
Her lips curved in distaste. “Even after the Fleet swept in and freed every prisoner from those horrible mines. People there are still afraid to think for themselves, much less talk. The whole society is warped by suspicions of each other. And it could happen anywhere. If we let it.” She stared out the window, at the cheerful lights of nighttime Erenburg, but she remembered a different night. “There is an old Earth legend about a wise chieftain. He liberated his tribe from slavery and led them towards a utopian place of freedom and happiness. But it took him forty years to reach that place. He wanted to change generations. Only after the old folks were pushed aside, and the younger ones born free rose to prominence, did he allow his people to reach paradise. The Fleet sociologists speculate it might take as long for the Pechorans to truly embrace democracy. A new generation. A scary prospect, isn’t it?”
Tagline: Human evil is the most terrifying thing in the universe.
