Dead Silence

Dead Silence is a 2022 science fiction horror novel by American author Stacey Kade, writing under the penname of S.A. Barnes. Synopsis The novel follows Claire, a team leader who worked aboard a Verux repair ship servicing communication beacons in the outermost regions of explored space alongside her crewmates Voller, Kane, Lourdes, and Nysus. A month prior she was discovered aboard an escape pod with a skull fracture and no memory of how she got aboard the pod. Her last memories were of her and her crew discovering the Aurora, a luxury cruise spaceship that had gone missing twenty years previously, during its maiden voyage. While being interviewed by two Verux corporate investigators, Max and Reed, Claire details how her crew had found and investigated the Aurora, hoping to claim its lucrative salvage rights. Once aboard the ship they discovered that the guests and crew had died in a variety of gruesome ways. Footage discovered from a reality show filmed aboard the Aurora showed that the deceased had experienced visual and auditory hallucinations, as well as paranoia. Claire further tells them that her crew had begun to experience these same effects, leading to Voller killing himself. She had fractured her skull while trying to stop him, resulting in her retaining no memory beyond a vision of seeing Lourdes's ghost hovering over Claire and Lourdes's corpse. Reed is incredulous, as he is intent on forcing Claire to confess to murdering her crew out of greed. While narrating the events to the investigators it becomes clear that Claire can see ghosts, something she had always been in denial about but finally admits to herself is genuine. Max informs Claire that Verux is sending himself, Reed, and Claire to investigate the Aurora and retrieve the bodies. Once aboard, Claire discovers that Kane is still alive, as he had sequestered himself in a makeshift padded room that he claims dampens vibrations he says causes hallucinations. As she talks to him Max has one of his security teams lock her, Reed, and Kane inside the room. To her horror, Claire learns the truth about the events aboard the Aurora. Twenty years prior Verux had paid one of the crew members to sabotage the maiden voyage so that the owning company would go bankrupt, allowing Verux to buy them out.