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“When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.” – Stephen Hawking
Date: 01.27.2104
Calypso Colony Ship
The alarms were shrieking. Not just in the Cryo Deck, but everywhere else. Once the purge sequence had been enabled, the Control Deck had been alerted. All major functions were routed through there, and Jenkins and Perdue had been on the Command Deck speaking with Captain Aaronson when the alert sounded. There was an instant concern, especially once the men on duty realized they had been locked out, physically and electronically. Captain Aaronson issued a general alert. People were streaming out of their coffins, pulling on clothes, and running to their emergency stations.
The reinforced titanium doors were closed and locked.
“None of the overrides are working, sir.” Martin Phoenix said, his fingers jabbing at the control panel.
Captain Aaronson slapped the Comm link on his suit, “NARA, crewmember oh-oh-six, connect me to the Cryo Deck!”
UNABLE TO CONNECT
CRYO COMM INOPERABLE
“NARA, disengage locks on Cryo Deck doors.”
UNABLE TO COMPLY
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE INITIATED
ATMOSPHERE BREACH CONTAINMENT PROTOCOLS
INITIATED
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 14:25 MINUTES
Zach Jenkins shook his head, “You can’t have both at the same time. Someone inside locked it all down, initiated a Level Five event and ordered the system reset.” He ran his hand through his hair, “I don’t know how that is even possible.”
He tried his Comm link, “NARA, crewmember two-one-two, connect to Cryo Deck please.”
UNABLE TO CONNECT
CRYO COMM INOPERABLE
“Captain, someone inside those blast doors has done this. This is no accident.” Zach said.
“Can you fix it?”
“No sir, this, whatever they have done is not only beyond my capabilities, but even if I could, it would have to be from the other side of these doors. Cryo was equipped with an entirely separate control system, one that could be operated and maintained autonomously from the deck in case of breach or environmental failure.”
The captain cursed, “We need to get through those doors. Now.”
Within a handful of minutes the plasma torch arrived and was put to work. As the metal began to melt, the fumes quickly affected everyone nearby.
“Environmental, we need the ventilation increased on this deck.” Fenton barked. Zach Jenkins felt the strong pull of the vent, clearing the hallway of fumes, and smacked his forehead...why didn’t I think of it earlier?
“We can access Cryo through the vents, sir! It will be a tight fit, but I think I can make it.” He had to yell it twice before the Captain heard him over the blast of the torch.
Captain Aaronson nodded immediately, looked around and focused on Wes Perdue, “Take Perdue with you. Go!”
Jenkins and Wes Perdue set off at a dead run towards the maintenance tubes. They were young and slim, smaller-boned than most of the rest of the team currently hovering outside of the Cryo Deck. It would be a tight fit, but Zach was sure he could do it. He knew just where the nearest access point was. He had studied the schematics of Calypso over and over while waiting for his application to be approved, and right now, five years later, it just might pay off. Five yards down and left at the corridor, in the corner, was an access panel.
“Shit, we need a hex driver,” Zach looked towards Equipment and Supply, but before he could decide on whether to head there or run back to his coffin for one, Wes Perdue was on his knees with a small pocketknife clutched in his hand.
Damned if the kid didn’t have a Swiss Army knife, complete with screwdrivers and the rare hex driver. It was small and difficult to work with, and it took what seemed like an agonizing amount of time to remove the hex nuts from the access panel, but they were finally successful.
Wes snapped it back closed, pocketed the knife and grinned, “A genuine Victorinox Cybertool Lite,” he said as they pulled off the access hatch, “A family heirloom and my dad’s gift to me before we left Earth. They gave me hell at boarding, I was three ounces over my weight limit.”
It was pitch black inside, and Zach gulped back his fear of dark, enclosed spaces. There was no time to feel claustrophobic now.
Wes looked at him and then into the dark tube, “I’ll go first if you want.”
Zach shook his head, “You don’t know the way and I do. I studied the hell out of every inch of Calypso while we were in training.”
He closed his eyes for a moment and reviewed the air supply system in his mind. Straight up, sharp right eight meters, then up again and across. They should be able to drop right into the middle of the Cryo Deck, in between the second and third rows of Cryo Pods.
“C’mon Jenkins, we gotta move.” Wes was itching to dive in.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Follow me.”
A few seconds later and Zach was inside. Damned if it wasn’t close, worse than getting used to the coffins. Arms in front, clawing and clutching, and legs and knees pushing him along. Zach’s legs had slightly better mobility. His shoulders bumped against the sides of the vents and he quickly learned to wiggle them from side to side to help his forward momentum. Behind him, he felt his foot connect with something and Wes yelped.
“You all right, man?” Wes’ muffled reply came back in the affirmative, but the kid hung back a little more after that. There was nothing like getting kicked in the face to curb your enthusiasm.
The ‘up’ sections were easier than Zach thought they would be. There were tiny foot and handhold indents in the vents. Between those and the fact that he barely fit as it was, it was simply a matter of wriggling up the first few feet and using the foot and handholds to pull and push the rest of the way. Inside of the vents, the alarms were significantly muted. Zach could hear Wes grunt and gasp as he wriggled along behind him.
After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, Zach heard Wes gasp, “Christ on a stick, man, you better know where you are going, because sure as shit I don’t want to get stuck in this damn tube.”
“Trust me, we’re almost there.” Zach laughed, then he stopped, realizing that just getting there was not enough, they still needed to get out of the vents and he didn’t have the right tools.
A few moments later, he could see flashes of red lighting the vent. There was the hatch. He moved past it, calling back to Wes as he did, “It’s all you man, you got the tool.” The alarms wailed as Wes wrestled with the vent and cursed behind him. There was nothing Zach could do, no way to turn around or give the kid a hand.
“The hex nuts are on the outside,” Wes yelped in pain. He had used the knife to separate the slats in the vent wide enough to feed his hand through and attack the hex nuts from the outside. As he struggled blindly with the tool, Wes sliced his hand open, cursed and nearly dropped the Victorinox in the process.
Agonizing seconds passed and the alarms continued to shriek. Below them, Zach could hear others calling out from inside the Cryo Deck, confused and disoriented. The access hatch finally gave way with a clatter and Wes half climbed, half fell out of it, clearing the way for Zach to back up and slide out. Wes had rolled out of the way before Zach dropped with a thud to the deck below.
They looked around, the shrieking cacophony of the alarms was intense and the red emergency lights lit up streaks of some dark substance on the Cryo Deck floor. Wes reached down, touched a thick drop. It was blood from the feel of it, sticky and mostly congealed. There were streaks and drops of blood everywhere, mostly on or around the damaged control panel.
One man lay motionless at the foot of it and streaks and drops of blood led away, towards the long lines of Cryo Pods, ten rows of twenty-five pods each. Most of the Cryo pod doors hung open and the newly revived were sitting in stunned heaps on the deck floor or stumbling to their feet, some heading for the main door which now had a large glowing hole in it. The Captain and most of the crew on the other side were still trying to cut their way through.
Zach ran towards a group of newly revived, he hoped to head them off before they got too close to the white-hot door. Cryo left a person a bit addled for the first few hours. It was similar to waking up from anesthesia, there was no telling what they would do. In most cases, a person was revived from Cryo over a period of nearly a day, watched carefully, and when fully oriented, sent on his or her way with a buddy to keep an eye on them.
The alarms and lights were disorienting and Zach figured there were at least two-thirds of the people from Cryo in various states of ambulation, confused as hell, which he had to watch over. Two women and one kid were about ten feet from the white-hot door, lurching towards it like zombies.
He turned and called out to Wes over his shoulder, “The purge is still counting down, get the rest of the Cryo pods open!” He grabbed the nearest woman by the shoulder, spun her around and sat her down, jumped toward the second and slid an arm around her waist as he grabbed for the little girl next to her and picked her up bodily. The heat from the door was hot on his face as he stopped both from burning themselves on the white-hot metal.
Wes turned and ran for the last row of pods, nearly tripping over Daniel Medry and Sam Sydan. She looked confused and was kneeling on the floor next to Medry. The shrieks of the alarms changed in tone. It didn’t seem possible that they could take on a more urgent tone, but they did and Wes knew they had very little time left. He ran to an occupied pod and keyed in the emergency revival sequence.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON MOSS, SEAN
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 04:06 MINUTES
“Shit!” Wes screamed in panic, he ran to the next pod and input the sequence. They had just six seconds to get the rest of the pods started on the emergency revival sequence.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON ZRADCE, JENNIFER
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 04:01 MINUTES
Just five more to go. Somehow he had to get to them
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON GONZALEZ, ESTEBAN
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 03:56 MINUTES
“Oh, God, no!” He ran to the next pod, his fingers flying over the flat glass screen.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON DUNN, JACK
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 03:52 MINUTES
He could see the mist beginning to clear. But he knew it was futile. He had gotten there too late. His heart skipped a beat. Jack Dunn was Kevin Edmond’s partner. They had a kid together.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON COOK, ELIZABETH
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 03:47 MINUTES
It was too late, it was all too late.
Wes stared for a moment. Elizabeth’s face was peaceful, her dark hair in two long braids. They had met at the Cape during training. She had been instantly recognizable to so many of them. A talented journalist, she had written extensively on the Narine conflict and exposed two political vote-buying scandals in the years before departure. During introductions, she had talked about writing the history of the first extra-solar colony – it was mostly likely one of the reasons the Selection Committee had picked her.
The alarms shrieked and Wes left her pod to initiate the revival sequence on the last two, even though he knew it was useless.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON MICHALKO, HEATHER
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 03:43 MINUTES
The locks would not release until the emergency revival was completed and an entire reboot on the system would crash it in the middle of their revival sequence. It was a built-in flaw the creators of the Cryo pods had never envisioned and it was going to kill five innocent people.
MANUAL OVERRIDE INITIATED
BEGIN EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON BRUEHL, LLOYD
03:58 MINUTES UNTIL REVIVAL
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 03:38 MINUTES
Wes stood helplessly as the countdown inexorably wound down. Lloyd’s cheeks sported a heavy five o’clock shadow. He had been a pompous jerk during training, determined to outperform everyone until his first experience in zero-gravity had made him lose his cookies. Afterward he had been less of an ass. Wes wouldn’t have considered him a friend, or even someone he wanted to hang out with, but he didn’t deserve this fate.
Wes barely noticed that his face was wet with tears. He grabbed a wrench from the deck floor, sticky with blood, and began to try to break through the thick armor of one of the pods.
Overhead, through the speakers, NARAs calm voice declared,
EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE COMPLETE
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 00:03 MINUTES
Wrench in hand, Wes ran back to the sixth to last pod, the display now read:
EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE ON ZRADCE, JENNIFER
COMPLETE
SYSTEM RESET ON ALL CRYO PODS IN 00:01 MINUTES
The lock cycled and the door to the pod opened. Jennifer Zradce slumped into his arms, her eyes still closed.
The entire deck went black.
