”—Rocket Captain Blasto calling home base. Repeat, Rocket Captain Blasto calling home base…”

The Haunted Nebula is a region of space approximately thirty light years across. Like all nebulae, it is filled with dust and hydrogen gas. Little is known about the area, however scientists have successfully verified that, somewhat unexpectedly, it contains unusually high levels of ghosts and monsters. Exploration into the sector has been limited due to the persistence of unexplainable—

”—equipment malfunctions,” screamed Captain Blasto into the space-radio. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the horrible scraping sounds that seemed to be getting closer. “Left and right space-thrusters are not responding, repeat not responding. The nuclear generator is running low, and I’m using the last plutonium rod to send this transmission. We’re off the space charts, here, I don’t think anyone has ever gone—”

...farther than one light year into The Haunted Nebula and successfully returned, though numerous attempts have been made, with unfortunate consequences in every case. Most often, the only survivors of these doomed voyages are the rusted, pock-marked wrecks of ships, or battered escape pods, empty after a thousand years of drifting hopelessly through space. Any survivors returning from deep within the Nebula only serve as grim reminders of human folly, having all been found comatose, rendered speechless by fright, or driven irrecoverably—

“insane, trying to claw through the floor, clicking his teeth together and rolling his eyes back into his head. He attacked Nelson and I… I had to shoot him with my ray gun. It.. whatever it is.. chased us into the cockpit, and we panicked, and barricaded the door. We blew the airlock, trying to get rid of it. There were still people in there.” Crossing himself, the stolid space adventurer could not keep himself from breaking into tears. “God, please forgive me! Why didn’t I listen to that priest on—”

...Bakil-Banil-Thoria 9, the nearest inhabitable planet to the Haunted Nebula— also, and perhaps not coincidentally, the planet with the highest suicide rate in the known universe. For the few hardy and headstrong natives who chose to remain on the planet after the invention of space-travel, the dark red patch of sky that looms above the pole, and the strange, constant, subliminal hum that emanates from it are a source of religious devotion and dread. Tribal elders on that planet insist that—

”—it’s in the cockpit with me now. I see.. I would estimate… six hundred ghosts per square meter. Two dead lions prowling in circles at the foot of my chair. Skin is flapping where it’s fallen away from the bone. More of them all the time. A beautiful, bloodless woman, her skin the color of a cataract. I’m strangling her neck now. it looks like the pearl handle of a gun. Out of the space-window there’s.. we’re cartwheeling, but there’s a lot of things screaming at me. I’m not even sure I’m still talking, but I hope somehow this message gets back to Earth, and nobody else ever—”

...plans to colonize The Haunted Nebula, accompanied by an international coalition of astronauts, hand-picked for their bravery and large families, who will be accompanying them to this final frontier of exploration, hoping to tap into the limitless reserves of blood-curdling terror and, somehow, use them for profit. Says Berger, “we’re still working on how to do it, but eventually we hope to develop a way to convert unending demonic hallucinations into some sort of viable power supply, which we will then resell at a fair market value.” Berger hopes his innovation will compete with recent developments in fusion engines by the Chinese.”