Pan sat at her post and stared out a large window. Little buttons and lights blinked from a console, but Pan paid them no attention. She had their meanings memorized, and at the moment, they didn’t need her.

Pan held a grey pencil. She let ennui wash over it.

Out the window, Pan watched a long ship come into view. It looked more train than ship; many cars joined together, with flexible accordion connections. The train ship slowed and headed for a giant ring, drifting in space. The ring, a thing of black metal, blended with the darkness and hid among the backdrop of stars.

The train ship approached the ring, and the ring lit up. It pulled the ship in, and the ship disappeared. All its cars trailed, off to some destination beyond Pan’s little waypoint.

Pan sighed. Ennui. It was a new color she could add to her drawings. A year as a waypoint station watcher would bring about ennui in any individual.

It turned out most people couldn’t afford ships. They relied on a public transport system, something like a space train, and the space train had to operate on tracks.

One reason for the track system was that space trains used little fuel. Somehow the giant rings and the waypoints helped them on their way.

Another reason for the track system were the navies. Scaldin, Soffigen, and a handful of other species kept fleets of ships, and they didn’t want to deal with civilian traffic. They wanted space trains on set paths, running on tight schedules. But, businesses still had ships, and billionaires had ships. And, the navies had complaints.

That had been the case with the Last Cruise. For eight months, Pan served on the nursing ship, hiding away from the Scaldin navy. She cleaned rooms and bedding. She served meals. She washed people waiting at death’s door.

Pan thought she would be good at it. And, in a way she was. She’d taken good care of her charges, better than some of the other girls. She had no jokes about their worn-down bodies or their foggy states of mind. She gave them no unkind words. She protected them as best she could from the infections that lay in wait and claimed their lives a little early.

But, Pan was also bad at the job. She would go to her quarters every night and think about why some Soffigen woman’s children never called her. Or, she would think about how far some Liti athlete had fallen from peak condition. She would think about all the unfair little things that happened to the elders she cared for – miserable disease, spouses left behind, and parents that had lost children and withered away too slow to catch up. Most of all, Pan would think about death.

Death was inescapable. It was all around. It was one of the biggest surprises in anyone’s life. Pan wasn’t really afraid of death. After her charges died, they faded into ghosts and then into nothing. Not one stuck around. They became peace itself. So, Pan didn’t fear death. She feared how a person got there.

And, how easily they were forgotten after they made their final trip.

Because of these thoughts, Pan couldn’t make a year on that job.

With a good deal of luck, Pan found a job as a waypoint watcher. It offered solitude and a kind of timelessness. Nothing seemed to happen, and all the days blended together.

She had a small station to herself, and a little tug to rescue derailed trains and idiot shippers. Best of all, she had the great waypoint ring and powerful signal equipment to tell the Scaldin navy to stay away. They did.

Every month a shipment came. It brought her food, and its pilots told her to hang in there. Waypoint watchers had a high turnover. They spent lonely days and couldn’t leave their posts. At least, they shouldn’t.

Pan wouldn’t fall victim to the high turnover, but she did leave her post. Both actions stemmed from the same reason. Pan wasn’t alone at her waypoint.

A month into Pan’s new job, the ghost of Brynn had joined her.

And, Brynn had tasks for Pan.

The lights dimmed.

Speak of the Reaper. Pan put down the pencil. Slowly, she turned her chair. “What do you want now?”

Brynn stood at the control room door. Her hair floated as if uplifted by a gentle breeze. Her dress of light blue traced a waving pattern over the floor. Brynn’s skin was dull, even for a grey woman. She carried a misty staff, and her eyes glowed blue. Sometimes, they blazed red.

“You need to get to work.” Brynn knew she was dead. She didn’t seem to know that she was no longer Pan’s mentor.

“I figured. That’s all you ever want of me.” Pan did a job for Brynn twice a month, just like old times. “What ship is it now?”

“Soffigen make in Porane Space Dock.”

“There’s no one aboard?”

Brynn’s eyes looked a little pink. “No one aboard. You have so many qualms about killing Soffigen. You should adopt your old viewpoint on matters of revenge and death.”

Pan stiffened. She narrowed her eyes. “Just tell me about the job, and I’ll do it.”

Brynn floated into the control room. Her staff ended in a trail of smoke.

Pan’s muscles tightened. She hated when Brynn came close.

Brynn detoured and floated to the window. “At least have a little fun with this, while you still can.” Brynn’s mouth didn’t seem to move that time. Her red eyes turned to Pan.

“I have fun. I have a grand time taking out these Soffigen ships. I just don’t know why you want me to do it. I don’t seem to make any progress.” Pan gestured to the window, to the space beyond her waypoint. “Haven’t you noticed? They keep making ships.”

“Just get their attention. Do it as spectacularly as you can this time.”

Pan sighed. “Alright. When?”

Brynn cocked her head. Her eyes looked orange. She held her staff as if the smoky object were some kind of precious pet. “Leave in two hours. I’ll be there.”

Pan waited. She watched Brynn. Brynn didn’t disappear.

“Is that all?” Pan asked.

Brynn floated towards the door. She didn’t cross the threshold but, instead, sank into the floor.

Pan sat still for a few minutes. Then, she relaxed. She hated Brynn’s visits. Brynn seemed to get more lucid by the month. She knew she was dead and what she wanted, but she never explained herself. Pan didn’t know which she’d rather have: a conscious ghost who liked puzzles, or a confused soul who told Pan everything she wanted to know.

Pan put her head in her hands. “Why did I think killing her would part us?”

Pan got into the tugship and pre-tripped the vessel. She flipped switches and watched meters reach their optimum levels.

The old ship couldn’t do much. It got where it needed to go, but it had no weapons and little maneuverability. Pan thought it was fine. She could barely fly a ship anyway, and this one was free.

What her little tugship could do and, often did, was tug. It took some practice, but Pan had mastered cable ejection. She could fasten her tug to any stationary ship and pull vessels ten times the tug’s size, even at high speeds.

Coupled with her reaper powers, Pan used her new skills and tools to destroy Soffigen ships – on Brynn’s orders of course. Sometimes, Pan just hid the ships for the Soffigen to find later. Her favorite, she hid near a small moon. If the Soffigen came into the system at just the right angle and moved towards the moon, the ship would slowly start to peek around the edge. Pan hoped someone found it soon and correctly. On the news, she hoped to see the image of the ship, discovered in a game of hide and seek.

“Are you going to take this one or destroy it?”

Pan jumped. She twisted around and saw Brynn’s ghost. “We’re carpooling now?”

Brynn occupied the entire cockpit entrance. Her hair and skirt spread to fill the space.

Pan turned away and eased out of the station’s little hangar. “I think I’ll just destroy it.”

Cold radiated through the tug’s cockpit. Pan didn’t turn around. Again, she wondered why killing Brynn had been a good idea. She had set herself up for a personal haunting.

And, I deserve it.

Brynn said, “Good. Destroyed ships make for angrier Soffigen. You might encounter some resistance with this one. Destroy it fast but make sure you make it flashy. And, when you escape be prepared to face other ships.” Her voice reverberated.

“I’ll just tug myself free if anyone tries to catch me.”

Soffigen ships had begun to grab hold of Pan’s tug, but they quickly learned not to do that. The tug had stronger engines, and whenever Pan found herself caught, she just initiated a tug of war. Of course, she won and often pulled the captor for a couple of lightyears. In the rare event that a ship had a stronger engine, Pan just used her portals to break away.

Brynn sighed. It was a drawn-out, spectral sound. “You need to stay free. Did you get the shields serviced?”

“Yes. Yes, I did. The mechanics are getting curious why the tug needs so much service. At some point, someone will track it down. It’s not mine you know, and I’m not supposed to leave my post.” Pan glanced back.

Brynn floated closer. “Your post will keep. This Soffigen problem will not.”

Pan shivered. She took a deep breath. “What exactly is this Soffigen problem?”

“They have ships,” Brynn said. The tone of voice reminded Pan of the living version – sarcastic and a bit arrogant.

Pan faced the window. She narrowed her eyes. “A lot of people have ships. You don’t have me destroy those ships – anymore.”

Early on, Pan had destroyed six vessels that didn’t belong to the Soffigen; four belonged to the Liti, a wax worshipping people. Pan knew a few, in particular, Linn. Linn, a head aide on the Last Cruise, treated Pan well, gave Pan a job, and understood when Pan wanted to leave. Pan hated to destroy Liti ships.

“Superliminal path?” Brynn asked.

Pan sighed. She held up a paper. “I have it here.” Into her computer, Pan tapped the numbers. “Oh, Brynn, my spooky informant. What would I do without you?”

“Waste away in that prison you found for yourself.”

Pan frowned. “It’s one of the only jobs I can do. I don’t exactly have a great education. Art and literature aren’t going to pay my bills.”

“No, but your knowledge of legal systems and healthcare could. Oh wait, you couldn’t make a year on that ship for the dying. What did they call it? The Last Cruise. Spy would like it, but it’s not for me.”

Pan wondered if Spy still lived. She didn’t think so. She wouldn’t mind a visit from Spy’s spirit, but Spy would never find Pan.

I’m stuck with Brynn.

Pan still didn’t know how Brynn found her. Brynn died on Scaldigir, and then, after more than a year of quiet, Brynn showed up at the station. Pan had been surprised.

“Shouldn’t be a long ride,” Brynn purred from the cockpit’s doorway.

Pan scowled but didn’t turn. “Three hours is a pretty long ride.”

“When you’re dead, you’ll think differently.”

Pan kept shaky hands on the controls. “If I think at all.”

“If at all.”

“I don’t know how ghosts get to be like you,” Pan said. “Lucid, with intel worthy of a spy network. Someone like you wouldn’t stick around for long. They must know of someplace better.” Pan curled her toes. “What’s wrong, Brynn? Don’t they want you there?

Brynn’s voice sounded distant. “Maybe.”

Pan glanced over her shoulder. Brynn looked dim; she saved her energy. Brynn appeared strongest when she wanted to bully Pan. As long as Pan went along with Brynn’s plans, she didn’t have to witness the full force of her reaper mentor’s ghost.