Flat Tire

by Barry B Begault

  Chapter Four

  David stepped into the airlock and the timer read eight. The hatch hissed closed and David could feel the atmosphere changing. A gentle breeze flowed through the compartment. The timer read five. The air felt, purer, easier to breath for some inexplicable reason. He assumed that the air was being ionized and the airflow helped to remove impurities like pollen from his body and clothes.

  A mechanical sounding voice announced, “Please stand on the circular grate in the center of the decontamination booth. Place your arms by your sides, and stand perfectly still. ”

  David stepped onto the grate and put his arms by his sides as instructed. He was afraid and excited at the same time. It was like the first time he road the roller coaster.

  The voice then broadcasted, “Decontamination in progress. Please close your eyes, and stand perfectly still. Do not open your eyes or move until the decontamination end message is broadcasted and you are told you may move.”

  The timer read zero. David closed his eyes, tight, and he tensed up, and prepared for, well he didn’t know what. He waited for something to happen. The cool airflow and the ionization feeling persisted as additional faint mechanical and electrical sounds continued.

  A very bright, warm, white, light illuminated the compartment. David could see the light even with his eye lids closed tight. He felt his body warm, not uncomfortably at first, but the intensity built up until it was becoming uncomfortably warm.

  Then just when David felt like he couldn’t take it anymore, the light went out and very strong, very cool, currents of air circulate all about him, all around him at once instantly cooling him, and then they abruptly stopped.

  The mechanical voice announced, “Decontamination complete. Please remain perfectly still.”

  David opened his eyes, adjusted to the light and looked at himself. He was totally nude and there was a slight white powder on his skin; all of his skin. His clothes had simply vanished with his wallet, car keys, and all the contents of his pockets. His muscles tensed up and he felt a little embarrassed. Now he knew how his patients felt in the examination room.

  Before he could murmur a sound, a slight electric shock feeling ran through his body, and the powder fell from his body to the floor where a suction sound came from and sucked up all the fallen powder. He and the floor were now spotless.

  He almost jumped as nozzles dropped down in front of him the length of his body and started to spin around him. They sprayed what appeared to be paint on his body from just below his neck to his feet. He felt a prick under his left foot and he raised it off the deck and a nozzle sprayed the bottom of that foot. The same happened with his right foot. His hands were left untouched.

  The “paint” turned immediately into clothing as it hit his skin and into shoes as it hit his feet. In just a few seconds he went from nude to fully clothed including underwear, and socks. Not only fully clothed but the sprayed on clothes and shoes were identical to the ones he had just shed. His shirt even included the small coffee stain on the left breast pocket. The nozzles quickly retracted into the ceiling.

  “Reclothing completed. Prepare for egress.” announced the voice.

  “Amazing.” he muttered to himself as he stared and felt in disbelief at the new, old clothing on his body.

  David assumed that the light was probably Xenon in origin, or close to it, and that it had burned the top epidural layer of his skin to remove any contaminates. He was amazed, however, that the hair follicles had not been disturbed. His entire skin had been sterilized.

  The hissing sound died away and the opposite hatch slid open, revealing the interior of the saucer. He walked out into the room ahead of him. The large, digital, timer reset to ten and stopped.

  Apparently the whole process was totally automated; kind of like a dishwasher.

  What looked like a metal bowl bolted on a shelf on the bulkhead immediately outside of the interior hatch contained all of his belongings that were in his pockets; including his bottle of water that was in his left coat pocket. A small light illuminated the bowl but he couldn’t determine the source of the light. His coat hung from a peg on the bulkhead immediately next to the bowl. It too had a light of unknown source shining upon it.

  He took the coat from the peg and slipped it on. It fit, felt and even smelled like the coat he had worn for years. He pocketed his belongings from the bowl and put them in his right coat pocket and put the water in his left pocket. Once he had taken the coat and his belongings from the bowl the light on the bowl and the one shining on the peg where the coat was blinked out. He waited for further instructions and in the meantime, looked around the saucer in amazement.

  The room interior of the saucer was very large, about the size of a large hotel banquet room, with the ceiling seemingly to be ten feet above his head. A mezzanine on the other side of this large room took up one third of the upper interior. The mezzanine area of this space vessel, with all the instrumentation on it, appeared to be the bridge where the operations of the ship were conducted he assumed.

  Two curved staircases circled around each side of him; one within five feet of him and the other on the opposite side of the saucer across a large open space. He noticed a large suited figure sitting at, what he determined from his vantage point, to be the main instrument console with the suited figure being the pilot seated before it.

  An aisle with a lighted floor path just blinked on going from where he was standing up the stairs to the console where the suited figure sat. It blinked in sequence from where he stood, up the stairs and to the figure seated in the mezzanine. It apparently showed the path he had to walk and where he had to go.

  The saucer voice announced, “Please stay on the lighted path. Low energy force fields will not allow contact with any surface within this ship. Micro-biological neutralizers have been activated,” announced the semi-mechanical sounding voice.

  He leaned on a guard rail to steady himself, for he felt just a little unstable, and although he thought he was touching the bare, metal, rail his hand was actually about one-quarter of an inch above the rail. He could see the space between his hand and the railing.

  Amazing.

  As he exhaled his breath glowed bright yellow for a microsecond or so before it evaporated.

  They must be destroying germs that I breathe out.

  He slowly ascended the right staircase and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. His mouth was as dry as the desert outside, and his senses had never been more alert. His muscles ached in anticipation of flight or fight because of the adrenaline being pumped so intensely into his blood stream. He pulled out his water bottle in reflex to his thirst and took a long pull then recapped the bottle and placed it back in his coat pocket. The cap glowed bright yellow for an instant.

  The treads were wide, six or so feet wide, and the tread was eighteen inches deep. The rise of each step was no more than six inches, so walking up these stairs was no problem. There were eighteen steps. David ascended cautiously, taking in every detail of the space around him. A calming started to come over him and his body relaxed a little; not totally, but just a little.