Author: Mikie

As soon as you enter the med bay, the doors suddenly seal behind you with a woosh!. You begin to think twice about this, as your computer displays a virtual readout that scans the room. The floor is scattered with medical supplies that seem to have been displaced by the turbulence. One of the examination tables is toppled over. That’ll need to be fixed before we resume recruiting, you think to yourself, as you walk further into the room. The silence reminds you of your solitude, and you begin to walk with a little more ease as you approach the stasis pods. The group of three seat parallel to each other. The first one is open and you can tell it’s not functional, the third has a broken window, and you can see no one through it, but the second is illuminated. You can tell that someone is inside, but can’t see anything through the glass.
“Victoria?” you say, inquisitively, as you reach the pods, to no response. You’re about to grab and open the pod door yourself, but at the last second, hesitate, noticing the handprint on the door. The figure inside shifts slightly, possibly awaking from stasis itself.
“Captain?” asks computer, “Why did you stop?”
“The handle” you reply as you slowly back your hand away “…there’s blood on it.”
WHUMP!
The shadowed figure pounds on the stasis pod door with such a force that makes you jump back a little.
“Captain, I—“
“Shhhhh!”

WHUMP!!
…
WHUMP!!!
“Computer, that’s not Victoria”
KRRAASSSSSSH!!
The figure breaks from the pod and the cloudy release of stasis gas shrouds its emergence as nothing more than a shadow. Your curiosity at the origin of this spectacle precariously outweighs your fear of its design.
The shadow shifts inside its cloud and quickly jumps from the top of the pod and lands with a THUMP!
THUMP….THUMP….THUMP, you hear, as the figure begins to walk toward you as you take a couple steps back, trying to be safe. The cloud begins to dissipate, and the figure emerges. It’s some creature. Jet black skin and long limbs, with arms that droop to its side and razor sharp claws, a sweeping tail, wound by its side and pointed at the tip. Its menacing fangs slowly part as it gives out a hssssss… to warn you of its impending wrath. Its eyes aren’t big, but they’re trained on you with an eager thirst.
You step further away, hoping to reach med bay doors, when you suddenly hear THUMP! THUMP! behind you. You slowly turn your head, fearing what you already know to be true. There are two more behind you.
“Okay, everybody be cool…no loud sounds. No sudden movements. I’m not a threat” you silently say to yourself, knowing that they’re moments from ripping you to shreds.
“CAPTAIN! IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU LISTEN AT THIS TIME!”
The first one leaps. You dive to the side, ducking under the second examination table, as it dives into one of the others.
“Computer! Why didn’t you warn me about the other two!?” you shout, scrambling under the other side.
“Anomaly detected! Captain, prior to movement, anomalies do not have biometric readings the scanners can detect”
“Well, that’s wonderful, computer! Thanks for the heads up, jerk!” You shout angrily while rolling, slightly missing the whip of the tail from the third creature.
You manage to jump to your feet and courageously grab the closest weapon you can find. Unfortunately, it’s a mop. You let out a sigh of disappointment in your situation before blocking the attack of one of the creatures again, while the other two fight each other over their impending meal. You push against the lunging creature, its fangs hovering dangerously close to your face. HSSSSSS!!!
You have to end this fast. As soon as the other two notice you, you’re dead, and you know it. You fall back, kick the creature over you and roll back to your feet. You run and leap toward the wall, grabbing hold as hard as you can, then break the glass on a small box on the wall near you, pushing a big button inside. Sirens begin to go off as you feel a gigantic rush of air and a pull that rips you off of your feet. The emergency hatch on the med bay hull has been opened, and the air is leaking out into space, sucking away everything not bolted to the floor. Including those creatures. You wait for the last one to finally be dragged out into the void.
“Computer! Shut the emergency hatch!”
As the hull seals, you finally take a much needed deep breath and the gears begin to roll in your head.
“…”
“Captain, Are you well?”
“…”
“Captain?”
“What the FUCK was that!?” you shout, before passing out on the med bay floor.

TBC…

5 Minutes Later….

You hear the whoosh of what sounds like a vacuum, and though you’re not even fully conscious yet, you know that sound all too well. You’ve just woken up from stasis.How long has it been? What were you doing? You think to yourself. It’s always a little hazy coming out of stasis. Best to just sit it out for a minute…

“Captain! It is imperative that you listen at this time!” …or not, you think to yourself, knowing that the computer won’t rest until you’re up and at attention.

“What is it, computer?”

“Anomaly detected, Captain”

“Explain”

“That’s just it, Captain. This AI cannot explain what just happened. There is…a gap”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, computer. Systems check.”

“All systems are functional. All fire damage is being repaired as we speak. Also, Victoria is just waking up from stasis now”

“What fire damage–?” Wait…you remember….fire, turbulence…your ship was…crashing! “Computer! Where are we? Why aren’t we crashing? Who disengaged the override!?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to report, Captain. There is a gap in this AI’s memory bank. Internal clock is offset by a period of five minutes. It appears that this AI stopped functioning during the time that you removed the override, engaged autopilot, and placed yourself in stasis.”

“But I didn’t do any of those things. Run video”

“Unable to comply. Captain, it appears video of the incident cuts off shortly before this AI. Nothing was captured.”

“What about audio or internal readings?”

“Unable to comply. Only functioning areas of the ship at that time were life support, stasis, and auto pilot. Everything else was disabled at the time of this AI”

“Hmm…The last thing I remember is you telling me that I only have 93 seconds, then making a mad dash toward the remote access panel in Cargo. Then: nothing.” The thought of a memory lapse like this upsets you. You’ve had your fair share of party nights, but nothing’s ever hit computer that way before. Whatever happened, you’ve lost five minutes of your life with nothing to show for it.

“Computer, what about Victoria? You said she was waking up from stasis?” Maybe she saved us, you think, hoping for some answers.

“Yes, Captain. She’s in medical bay. She has yet to vacate her pod.”

You quickly make your way to the med bay, hoping Victoria can fill the gaps, but as the doors open, you hesitate, and a chill goes down your spine. Something doesn’t feel right. The air is stale, and unlike the rest of the ship, med bay still looks like it came out of the tail-end of a storm.

“Computer, can you confirm Victoria’s status in the pod?”

“No, Captain. Unable to define life signs inside of stasis pods. This AI cannot perform that function, according to Charter 7-DASH-394 of–”

“What makes you sure that Victoria is here?”

“Scanners indicate faint life signs in stasis pod 2. Before the information gap, Victoria was the only other life sign on this ship.”

You don’t like this feeling ahead of you, but you need answers, and step forward into the med bay.

TBC…