Theseus

Murray was invisible. Proving this, for the fifth time today, someone tripped over him. It wasn’t uncommon to be tripped over in the narrow passages of Colony Ship Theseus. What was unusual was the person stopping to apologize. 

“So sorry, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see you there,” she said. 

Murray stood from his crouched position and turned to his assailant. It was Marissa. 

“No problem, Ma...am.”

He had just barely caught himself. Changing her name to ‘ma’am’ as quickly as he could manage. Marissa broke from her daze to give a puzzled look. He had watched her during many of his walks in the hidden tunnels, but of course, she was unaware of this. Murray wasn’t even sure she knew his name. He rushed to cover his mistake.

“Small hallways and all. Not your fault I blend into the backdrop.” 

Marissa smiled and returned to her daze as she continued down the passage. Too much going on in her life to spare a thought for this nameless maintenance worker and his odd quirks. But... that wasn’t fair of Murray, Marissa was one of the good ones. She wasn’t the type to wander the halls, ignoring those around her. As he watched her walk away, Murray felt something was off. He had watched Marissa long enough to pick up on subtle changes in her demeanor. 

Murray bent over and finished replacing the cover on the air recycler as quick as he could. He knew how to sort this out. He gathered his tools and walked down the hall until he reached an off-shoot from the main corridor. This dead end passage was as nondescript as they come. The same smooth metal sheeting covered it just like the main hallway, its surface only broken by what appeared to be a tiny ventilation shaft. Murray flipped it open to reveal a keypad. Once he entered his passcode, the entire wall at the dead end slid away, becoming a black hole in the hall’s otherwise uniformly dull, gray appearance. He stepped into the darkness, away from the scrutiny of the lights.

On some instinctive level, people must have realized there was more to Theseus than these sleek, gray halls. But no one appeared to know it had hidden tunnels. Every piece of the ship was connected to what the ship engineers had labeled ‘maintenance breaks.’ These small hallways helped insulate the ship’s passengers from the dangers of space. Like firebreaks in wooded areas, these maintenance breaks would stop the spread of a destructive force. This area also housed all the pipes, vents, shafts, and support systems that made life inside the ship bearable.  

As the hidden door closed, Murray’s anxiety faded with the extra light. He stood for a minute breathing in the oil, dust, and grime that filled these inner sanctums. As his chest expanded, he straightened up a bit, no longer feeling confined.

Murray loved being invisible. It was his super power. Out in the halls of the ship, it allowed him to hear things he shouldn’t. In fact, he could often get into places he had no business being in. No one ever questioned the unassuming janitor. In the maintenance breaks, no one even saw the janitor. These unpolished tunnels stripped away all of Theseus’ pomp. Here, Murray could see the true nature of the ship.

Once his eyes adjusted, he took off for Marissa’s unit. He had a suspicion he would find the source of her distress there.

As Murray moved along his hidden tunnel, he passed by each individual housing unit’s lifeless viewing pane. These panes were a sea of smooth, black glass. Each one framed by a complicated tangle of gears, wires, and piping. They acted as one-way mirrors into the unit. Murray was pretty sure this was supposed to be a restricted function. Especially considering once you entered the code, you could open the pane to get direct access to the unit. 

He reached Marissa’s unit and entered his passcode into the keypad next to the viewing pane. It came to life with a soft glow as the black window cleared to reveal the unit’s contents. 

Housing units were pretty small, and all of them had the same floor plan. From Murray’s point of view, the left side contained a bed and a little partition that hid the bathroom. The opposite side of the room had a desk and small tv.

Jason, Marissa’s boyfriend, was alone in the room, his height and broad shoulders highlighting how cramped these rooms were. He stood at the front of the unit with his back to Murray, white knuckling a whiskey bottle. Jason was a drunk. Not the fun kind either, more the shut-down-the-bar-and-call-the-cops kind. 

“Bitch” whispered Jason. 

Then, more loudly, “You think you can just walk out on me?” 

Jason continued mumbling insults Murray couldn’t make out as he threw the bottle against the door. The gravity on Theseus was lower than Earth’s by enough that the bottle remained intact, hitting the door with a dull thud.

Jason’s shoulders tensed. He stormed up to the bottle, yanked it from the floor, and began beating it against the door. Several thuds later, Jason tossed the jagged remains of the container onto the desk.

Murray sighed and turned off the viewing pane. His intuition confirmed. He’d seen this movie before. When Marissa returned, she’d face another beating. And Murray would do what he always did: watch in silent witness of her pain. He flipped a switch above the keypad that turned on the entry alarm. A green light above the viewing pane blazed in the relative darkness. 

Marissa typically made her way to the market when she was trying to avoid Jason. It was the one public space on the ship guaranteed to have people milling about. Instead of waiting here for the entry alarm to turn red, Murray made for the market. 

After a time, the viewing panes stopped punctuating the tangle of machinery, which became more organized. The piping flowed around a right angle in the hall as Murray reached another dead end. The pipes and ventilation shafts on either side of him disappeared into a smooth wall in front of him that contained yet another viewing pane and keypad. In the corner of this alcove, a mop and bucket he left in this sector stood watch. Cleaning supplies provided a convenient excuse for him to be present amongst the colonists. He entered his code and quickly slid the bucket and mop into the blinding light of the market. 

The market was less claustrophobic than the housing sector. Every shop was two stories, even though the second story wasn’t accessible within the market. The sector’s layout formed a large cross, each arm a long street lined with these two-story buildings. Running down each lane, high overhead, was a strip of blue skies that hid the UV lights. 

Murray stood there in a small alley, jetting off from the main street. His grip tightened around his mop in terror as he tried to comprehend his stupidity. In his haste, he hadn’t checked the viewing pane before leaving the safety of his tunnels. Before him, two teenagers were standing over a third on the ground. The standing kids were in a flurry of fists and feet as they pummeled the third, lying helplessly in the fetal position. They were so preoccupied with the assault, no one noticed Murray. 

As he waffled on what to do next, his options were ripped from him as the boy in the green hoodie paused his furious swings to wipe his brow and caught Murray in his peripheral vision. Before the boy could turn to face him, Murray yanked his mop from his bucket and began cleaning a random spot on the floor. It was too late though; he had been seen. His power disappearing with his anonymity. 

The boy was opening his mouth, likely to address Murray’s sudden appearance, but was cut off as he was pulled backward by his hood. Both aggressors were yanked from their prey and shoved to the opposite wall. 

Marissa was standing between them and the boy on the ground, a mask of fury. 

“What the hell do you two think you are doing?” Marissa yelled. 

“Nothing lady, just playing around.” Said the boy in the green hoodie. He turned to glance at Murray, pointing. 

“See, that guy over there, he knows. He saw the whole thing.” 

Marissa glanced his way, looking for an answer. Murray could only give her silence. 

The two teenagers seized the opportunity and darted for the alley before Marissa could stop them. The third kid stood up, holding his shoulder. 

“Thanks,” he said, as he trotted back into the flow of the market. 

Marissa still held Murray’s gaze. 

“You know what it makes you, if you just stand there, saying nothing, doing nothing?” She said.

Murray flinched and looked down. He sat there in the quiet anger of her disappointment, working up the courage for a response. He was out of his element now. 

“Sorry ma’am. We aren’t all fighters.”

He looked up and Marissa was looking in his direction, distracted. She made eye contact again.

“You’re right, Murray. But we should be.” With a determined nod, she walked out of the alley.

Rattled by the encounter, Murray resolved to stay in the comfort of his maintenance breaks for the rest of the night. He went about his duties. Checking air filters, coolant levels, and power consumption meters on every unit in Marissa’s sector. Occasionally turning a pane on to see what his fellow colonists were up to. 

Rebecca was searching for her cat again. Tuna was always next door in George’s unit. Once a month, he would lure the cat away. Then, after a few days, George would ‘find’ the cat and be Rebecca’s hero. Murray could never tell if George was a viscous prankster or in love.

As Rebecca checked under the bed for the third time, the ambient light in the maintenance break shifted. Lost in thought, it took Murray a minute to notice a red glow in the distance. An entry alarm? Murray’s breath caught. He had forgotten what had driven him to the market.

He arrived at Marissa’s unit, out of breath. Gathering himself, he entered his passcode, and the pane came to life as Marissa’s head slammed against it. She was pushing herself off the wall when Jason grabbed both of her wrist and forced her back on it. His face appeared next to hers. 

“You think you can just leave me?” Jason said.

Marissa, calm as Murray had ever seen her, said, “Yes, I do. I’m tired of pretending I don’t see what you are.”

“Fine, Mar, let’s stop pretending.”

Jason sneered as he twisted his grip on Marissa’s wrist. Panic washed over her face as she tried to break free from it. 

“Stop it, Jason. S -”

Snap

All the color drained from Marissa’s face. The unmistakable wet snap of her wrist breaking lingered in the now quiet unit. Murray, looking on in horror, felt everything change. 

That snap erased whatever line Jason had told himself he would never cross. 

Marissa screamed as Jason pulled her away from the pane and threw her as hard as he could against the unit door. Marissa glided across the room, hitting the door with a faint thud as she sank to the floor. Jason’s shoulders tensed.

Murray glanced at the remains of the whiskey bottle on the desk and made a decision. For the second time tonight, Murray slipped into a room unnoticed. 

He lept. 

Aided by low gravity, Murray landed on Jason, arms around his neck. Murray’s feet hit the ground, and he squeezed as hard as he could. Jason, bending slightly backward, grunted in surprise and began tugging at Murray’s hold.

After the surprise wore off, Jason became more focused on freeing himself. Murray could already feel his resolve loosening with his grip.

Thump

Murray felt whatever had impacted Jason echo through his own body. Just like that, the tide changed. Marissa must have hit him or something, but whatever she did had caused Jason to lose his footing and given Murray the leverage he needed to strengthen his hold. Slowly, but faster than he would have thought, Jason’s protests grew weaker until they were both on the floor. 

That’s when Murray noticed the whisky bottle sticking out of Jason’s abdomen.

For the first time since he’d entered the room, he looked at Marissa. She was standing in front of them, hands clutched to her chest. She looked at Jason in horror as Murray stood and began dragging him to the maintenance break. As he reached the edge of the unit, she looked at Murray and said 

“Murray, I -” 

“Didn’t see a thing,” he interjected. 

Mouth ajar, her eyes met his. Her shock replaced with a question. 

“And neither did I,” Murray said.