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…