Short Fiction: the Orville - Ghost in the Machine

 Part 9: Ghost in the Machine

"I know right..." Bortas jerked his head around at the sound only to see a crewman in the distance. The problem with Isaac messing with the holosuite was one thing but why was the youngest offspring of Doctor Finn in there with them? Only when the crewman was gone did he enter his family quarters. An odd sensation tormented him. "Its too early for that."

"Bortus?" Klyden, the comms on his head, stared at his mate's unexpected arrival home early. "You are... home early."

"I am..." Bortus abandoned all pretense and turned and headed directly for the Toilet that had in all their time on the Orville, never been used. "...not feeling well."

"How is this thing used?" The lid on the seat lifted revealing a broad covering rim with a hole revealing an immaculate bowl beneath. The sensation came again and he quickly extracated himself from his clothing and released flow. "Oooh..."

"Bortus, are you urinating?" He was startled by the unexpected approach of Klyden and urine splashed across the broad rim and over the edge onto the floor. "Why are you urinating?"

"Klyden!" Bortus, outraged at the interuption of his emergency Jaloja, snapped at his mate for the intrusion. "Now is not the time for conversation."

"Damn it." The damage was done. The urination muscle constricted the flow to a trickle down his pants leg corroding the fibres. "Now I must requisition a new uniform."

"Bortus," He would not be barked at by his mate. There was obviously something wrong. It was not the time for Bortus to undertake the Jaloja. "What is going on?"

"Nothing." Bortus had no intention of admitting to such a ridiculous weakness. "I am fine."

"You are lying." Klyden was overcome by the stench of spilled Urine and coughed. "I can tell when you are lying."

"What is that odour?" Klyden had not encountered the enzyme since childhood and it took a moment for him to recognize the smell. It was the smell of fear. "Why can I smell fear in your urine?"

...

"Ridiculous," The very idea that Bortus had encountered something that filled him with an overwhelming sense of dread on a holosuite was idiotic. A holosuite could not possibly induce the sort of existential dread that triggered the release of the fear enzyme into Mochlan Urine. Klyden reached the only conclusion. "You must be ill. That is the only explanation."

"You will never understand." Bortus sat in a corner with his back to the wall watchful of the room for no particular reason that he could think of. "Not without experiencing it for yourself."

...

"Here." Bortus led Klyden to the front of the Que which had shortened somewhat. Those in line wondered if the issue with the holosuite would be resolved shortly with the arrival of the two Moclans though they could not help but notice the odd smell of urine which was uncomfortable to the eyes. Bortus opened the door to reveal a room full of Kaylon. "You will enter and explore the room."

"A room full of holographic Kaylon?" Klyden scoffed at the suggestion. "How can this possibly be terrifying?"

"If you wish to truly experience fear," Bortus let Klyden enter and the door slide shut behind him. "Ask for Isaac."

"Is..." The current crewman in line stared at Commander Bortus. "...there is some sort of haunted house experience running?"

"Yes." Bortus began to accept his role as door man to this door to hell. "There is a ghost in the machine."

...

Klyden returned from the holosuite with a distinct look of distress on his face.

"Well?" Bortus was unsympathetic as to the fear worming its way into Klyden's soul. "What is your answer?"

"We must return to our family quarters immediatly." Klyden brushed past Bortus and the rest of the crewmen and headed down the hallway as the first crewman in the Que slipped into the holosuite to experience what he was now assured to be a house of horrors. "I have an urgent need to undertake Jaloja."

...

"Isaac?" Bortus entered his access code to enter the private quarters of Doctor Claire Finn. "It is Commander Bortus. I am coming in."

"Isaac?" He found the doctor's quarters shrouded in darkness. Unlike the holosuite this room was filled with rubble. Only one chair remained and it was occupied by a seated, shadowy figure with glowing red eyes who faced the only entrance. "What has happened here?"

"Captain Grayson killed my mother." Isaac's words were terrifying to Bortus. The holographic child on the holosuite giving directions to this hell was one thing, but this single answer from a broken machine was filled with pure pain.

"And..." If there was one thing that Bortus would now need to accept, it was that his urine would smell of fear forever. There was no going back to Mochlas. The enzyme would mark him. He doubted if he could even be in the same room with Klyden. "...now I need Ja'loja."