Vra’pudh
A Thursday Prompt story
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Prompt: ghost

Thumbnail art by  technicolor_pie, color by  Major Matt Mason



In Kashlanin mythology, a vra’pudh was a sort of spirit, usually described as incorporeal but taking female form when they became physical. They were usually encountered as emissaries from various Deities, and served to teach moral lessons or reward or punish shlani. In the Fable of the Seasons, two of them stood on Gwath ka-shlal’s north pole, grasping a rod made of b’rij reed in a perpetual tug of war.

Varan mentally chided herself for being silly, but seeing the largely transparent vir seated beside her, she conceded that the memory was an apt one, if a trifle misplaced.

She was physically seated in the simulator aboard the Bōank, but virtually she was in huge conference area, surrounded by rows of her fellow captains. Admiral Tajan stood at the center of the holographic amphitheater, a vast globe showing the Lalande System and the boundary between Imperial space and the Terran Sphere looming over him.

Tajan gestured with his tail, and the view overhead zoomed in and switched to a representation of the hyperspace terrain along the border. “The current border patrol group was in hyperspace when the screening destroyers noted this contact,” he said as a small spot of ‘danger’ blue appeared against the pink background. “It was at extreme range, with only notional estimates as to its power signature and size, but it stayed on the Terran side of the arbitrary boundary moved to match the patrol group’s movements.”

The kam put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth for a moment. “Threats and Assessments Section has been analyzing the contact’s course, and they agree that no sophont could match the group’s course so exactly through hyperspace. Yes?” and he gestured toward one of the captains.

“An AI, sir?” the kam asked.

Tajan’s muzzle wrinkled in distaste. “That is the consensus of Threats and Assessments, yes.” He paused as the assembled captains, some of whom were out patrolling that selfsame border, talked among themselves for a handful of subfractions.

He gestured for quiet, and when the talk died down he said, “Terra’s Foreign Ministry disclaims all knowledge of this, and we are awaiting some response to an inquiry made to their Defense Ministry. One branch of the analysis made by Threats and Assessments is that Terra has relinquished the task of monitoring our shared border to their machines, as their Fleet is growing smaller. After much thought on the matter, I tend to agree.”

His tail lashed across the floor. “I am directing all of you to keep a watch on that contact. If it crosses the border, I want it killed. Is that understood?” He stood still as the others all gestured affirmatively and said, “This meeting is over.”

The conference area and all the other captains vanished, leaving Varan seated alone in the simulator. “You heard, of course,” she said.

Her Command-Second had been standing beside the door. “Yes, Ma’am. Orders will be passed to all sensor officers and weaponeers.”

“Excellent.” Varan stood up and smiled.

Myth held that it was never a good idea to hunt a vra’pudh, but no vra’pudh was ever disguised as a ship surrounding a tank of cloned nerve cells.