As the ship's fire alert was blaring, two people in bright light-green uniforms hurried through the hallways. One of them was a lemur, the other a rat. Armed with fire extinguishers and fire-proof clothing, gloves, booths and helmet, they were headings straight towards the danger.
"Hurry, the Magicore chamber is this way, Jenifer!" the lemur pointed.
They took a turn, and entered the chamber. It was engulfed in flames left and right, threatening the big blue glowing machine in the center of it all.
"Oh meu Deus!" the rat named Jenifer said. "Quick, Kayode! Make sure the fire doesn't reach the Magicore!"
They flanked the room on either side, blasting their fire extinguishers to keep the flames away from the machine. On Kayode's side, the flames quickly died out, but on Jenifer's side, they were a bigger challenge: no matter how much she sprayed, the flames just rose again.
"I need help!" she said to Kayode. "These flames are really stubborn!"
The lemur glanced over at her side, and saw the flames popping up again.
"Bloody hell!" he cursed. "Those magic crystals keep on feeding the flames! We need something else for that. Keep spraying! I'll be back in a minute."
"Hurry, please, I don't know how much I have left in this cannister."
Kayode left the room, leaving his extinguisher behind. Jenifer kept on spraying to keep the fire under control, but just as she feared, the canister ran out. She had to get Kayode's cannister quickly and keep the fire down. She put down her own cannister, grabbed Kayode's and wanted to start spraying, but to her horror, she saw that in mere moments, the fire had spread quickly, and it was now hitting the -
*BAM!*
A strong magic blast knocked Jenifer over. She fell to the floor, disoriented. When she regained her bearings, she saw that the blast had blown out the fire. At least that was under control now. But something didn't feel right. She could've sworn that such a knockdown would've been painful from the impact, but instead, she felt... nothing. It was only when she looked in the direction of the Magicore, she saw something unexpected: a body. Her body! But if her body was there, then...
She looked down at her hands, and saw that they were silverly pale and transparent, and in fact, everywhere she looked at herself looked like that, with a faint glow coming off her. She felt very light, she was wearing nothing and her legs and tail were nowhere to be seen, just a ghostly trail. It took a moment to realise what had happened to her...
"No... this can't be happening... I can't be dead!" she said to herself, hearing her echoey voice reflect back. She approached her body, intuitively floating across the room. It laid there, unmoving.
"No, please, God, no!" she started to cry. "I'm not ready to go!"
She moved her hand to the helmet's visor, having a fools hope that she could open it to see her own face. But to her surprise, she could move the visor. She could still interact with this world! Maybe that meant she could fix it. She had to get to sickbay! She tried to grab her own body and tried to lift it, but she felt weak in this state.
"HEEEEEELP!" she shouted. Kayode came around the corner, and couldn't believe the scene he saw before him.
"Jeni - Oh my God! You - A ghost - What happened to you!" he tried to gather his words.
"Get me to sickbay! Quickly! I'm dying!" she urged him.
"Ensign Maqui to sickbay, medical emergency incoming, one heavily injured. I'm carrying them to sick bay now."
He picked up her body, and hurried to sickbay, while she floated next to him.
"I hope Suzanne can fix this..."

In sickbay, the doctor and nurses already prepared a bed for Jenifer's body, but were very surprised to see her ghost floating with her.
"What in the name of -" doctor Suzanne Gadovnik said, as Kayode laid Jenifer's body on the bed. "In all my years, I've never seen this! What happened to you?"
"Last thing I can remember... I was hit by a blast from the Magicore," Jenifer said.
"From the Magicore, you say? Hmmm... I'm no expert in this, but, I think the blast untethered your soul from your body."
"What?! So this ghost is... my soul?"
"I think so... look, I'm a doctor, not a magic expert."
"Well, can you revive my body?"
"Perhaps that will fix it. Tys, get the reanimation equipment!"
"Yes, doctor!" the nurse replied, and quickly returned with the reanimation machinery. The doctor put the paddles on her body, and charged. A shock went through the body, momentarily tightening all muscles, but it laid there motionless again... well... almost motionless.
"Doctor, she's breathing," Tys said.
"Yes. I measure a pulse as well. Vital signs are starting to come back," the doctor said. "But her brain activity... it remains idle."
"I don't understand," Jenifer said. "I'm alive again, yet... I'm not back in my body."
"Then this soul severance is worse than I thought. I'm not sure if I can do anything about it..."
Jenifer started to cry. It was all for nothing. Her fate as a ghost seemed to be sealed, now that her body had become an empty husk. It was very confronting to look at her own body. She felt like she was practically dead now, even with her body still breathing. She buried her face onto her body's belly, but to her surprise, her head fell through the skin, and she felt herself pulled in. Suddenly, she found herself quickly raising up in her bed, breathing heavily.
"Jenifer?" Kayode said. Jenifer looked at her hands again. Her familiar hands. She was in her body again!
"Yes, I did it! I'm back again," she exclaimed. She smiled, but she saw concern on the doctor's face.
"What is it, doctor?" she was confused.
"I don't think it's as it was again," the doctor said.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the brain activity," the doctor showed her the graph. "It's still idle. What you're doing now should be impossible, and yet, you sit here in front of me talking to me. And your eyes are glowing silverly blue."
"My eyes are glowing?"
"I may have a theory," Kayode said, "and maybe this is nonsense, but... I think you're still a ghost."
"But I have my body!"
"You're just possessing your own body now."
"So my body is haunted?"
"You could say that... can I check one thing?"
"Sure."
Kayode slapped her in the face.
"OW! What do you do that for?"
"Good, you're still feeling something. Your feelings could've been numbed for all I know."
"Oh God, that would've been terrible!"
"Should we test what else you're still able to sense?"
"Please, don't slap me again..."
"No, I mean, we should get you some food. We need to see if you're still able to taste and smell stuff."
"OK, I guess. If that's the case, I can still live a somewhat normal life..."
"Let's hope so..."

After being let go of sick bay, Jenifer and Kayode went to the mess hall to get some food. She was pleased that food still tasted the same as it did before. In fact, she felt as if nothing had happened. Only her glowing eyes gave away something was different. She continued on her daily tasks as usual, but in the evening, her body felt tired... but her mind wasn't tired at all. She went to bed to take some rest, but she couldn't get anywhere close to sleep. Her body screamed for rest, but she couldn't get herself to turn off her mind. Maybe... just maybe...

Her soul raised up from her body, which went limp behind her. She was cursed now, she reckoned, her soul unable to sleep, even when her body needed it. She floated higher in her sleeping quarters, floating above her body. She laid her hand upon the face of her helpless empty shell of a body. This was her life now, she realised. Never being able to rest anymore, having to live every minute throughout the day. She felt like she had become the caretaker of her own body. She found herself in limbo, neither fully alive or dead. Out of all the people she had helped throughout her career, she had failed to save herself. She wasn't looking forward to living like this, but another thought took over: she had been given another chance. She could still save people in need, and perhaps even her possessing ability may be helpful someday to save someone. This was not the time to give up; she had a duty to fulfil, and hope that one day there would be a solution for her, to live normal again. But until that day, she had to make the best of the situation...

It was that day the Pioneer's Guardian Angel was born...

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This wonderful illustration was drawn by  elke. Jenifer is one of the more dramatically loaded characters on the Pioneer. This illustration shows her first night in this new state, which the artist has beautifully portrayed. This hits the emotional core of the character: not alive, not dead. But despite her situation, she still tries to save anyone she can, eventually finding the support to cope with her situation by shifting schedules and to talk with people outside her "waking hours". Especially Holly helps her through it all. But still, she hopes that someday, she could tether her soul again...