Ghost in the Engine
an excerpt

She leaned on the windowsill next to him. "This reporter will be trouble. I warned you they were organising resistance. The power station must open on time. It's the only way to get rid of the rabble."

"And how many rabble did you want eliminated? How long will they power the stations?" He swung around to face her.

She laughed. "Run the numbers boy, the dead vastly outnumber the living, no matter how populous you become there will always be more of us than there are of you, and our number grows daily. The power station should function for centuries, you're using a renewable fuel after all. Isn't that what your environmentalists wanted?"

"I don't think that's quite what they had in mind."

"No matter. They all belong to you now. No-one can beat your engine, or copy your refuelling stations." She smiled. "I can make this reporter go away."

"No. People would ask questions, look at what he'd been working on. The more he persists, the more he'll look like a lone madman. Anything we do to support his story will just arouse suspicion. We'll clean up the mess and pretend it never happened."

She raised a perfect eyebrow. "Maybe there is hope for you after all."

There was a slight smile on her face as she faded into mist and he was left blissfully alone again. He sat down at the desk, leaned back in the chair and picked up the phone.

"Melissa, I'm going to need another plant in here." He looked at the dying foliage and pursed his lips. "See if they have anything that's made of plastic. I want it to last more than a few weeks this time."