Gathering her legs slowly in the cocoon, she reached up and tried again. She managed to pull herself up enough to lean over the edge of the chamber, pinching the flesh in her armpit against the cool metal. The pain helped to focus her and distract her from the exhaustion that made colors dance in her vision. Kira gasped for breath, counting internally until more than a minute had passed, and then she pulled her legs beneath her again and used them to help boost her over the edge.
Kira crashed to the cold metal floor. She felt needles and daggers stabbing her body inside and out. The pain was so great she blacked out for a moment, and then came around with a gasp of air as though she had been drowning. She managed to roll over and lay there, the cool floor stealing what little warmth her body had managed to reclaim. She felt herself shiver, and then she felt the hollow nausea she had come to associate with being so hungry her body was on the verge of malnutrition.
Still she lay on the floor, unable to comprehend the amount of effort it would take to move. Her breathing and heart eventually calmed to the point that she could hear little more than just herself. The faint background hum of the ship’s air filtration and recycling service provided her only auditory companion. She steeled herself, feeling sorry for the men trapped still in their tomb-like bunks. They’d once been so strong and filled with life; now they were shadows of themselves that required machinery to exist. To be reduced to something so powerless was terrifying. She knew that Emily, if she was still around, would be terrified of being in a situation like the one Kira found herself in.
For Kira it was miserable, but she was accustomed to being disadvantaged and without resources. Now she clung to one thing and one thing only: hope. Kira knew now who she was and who she had been. She knew that she had done incredible things, even if she had not been aware of it at the time. Most importantly, she knew that if she could bend her mind to it, she could survive this, too.
It was with that belief clutched desperately in her heart that Kira rolled on to her stomach and pulled her knees beneath her. She reached out, grabbing the hateful sleep chamber again, and then managed to rise to one shaky leg and then the other. She bent over it, supporting herself with her arms and legs, and tried to will away the nausea and the shakes that threatened to pull her back to the metal floor.
Minutes passed before Kira felt the rubber in her legs turn to the electric pins and needles associated with the return of circulation. She realized her jaw was clenched only after the agony began to pass and her sinuses were burning with the effort of harsh breathing through the dried-out passages. She dared to open her mouth, and then slowly turned to look upon the other cold sleep chambers that lay beyond her. To get to them she would need to walk around hers, a task that seemed no less difficult than swimming the liquid methane oceans of Europa.
“One squeeze of the trigger at a time,” Kira breathed. She paused, wondering where the expression had come from. It had to be a holdover from something Emily had picked up. She put it aside, realizing she was letting herself be distracted, and began to move around her chamber as carefully as she could.
She made it, though her entire body was numb with fatigue and she felt like blacking out would be a blessing. The next stage for her was in crossing the six feet of open space between her cocoon and Jeff’s. She gathered her strength and evened her breathing. Kira felt a deep ache in her head and neck, but she pushed it aside. Dehydration and fatigue, she suspected, neither of which would help her crewmates.
Kira pushed herself off, moving slowly across the floor. She felt like she was balancing on a wire above a bottomless pit, with each footfall doomed to send her plunging. She gathered speed as she went, her legs burning with the effort, until she crashed into Jeff’s cocoon. She held on for dear life, fearing if she slid to the floor she might not get back to her feet.
As her heart began to settle, she peered over the clear window, staring down at his shrunken chest and upper stomach. Seeing his body on display, she remembered her own and could not help but glance down at herself. The prolonged stasis had robbed them all of both muscle and fat. Even her breasts, once something she’d taken a small token of pride in, seemed deflated and aged.
Kira mentally slapped herself. “No more distractions!” She refocused on Jeff and studied both his sleeping body and the displays on the sleep chamber. He was alive but sleeping, the IVs continuing to pump nutrients into his body. She frowned, and then regretted it for the cramp in her neck that ensued. His overall health score was still nearly thirty points from being high enough to initiate the automatic wakeup procedure. That must have meant hers had reached that level. Why then did she feel like she’d been run over by a military grade space frigate?
The ache in her body refused to abate, but the sharper pains faded into a numb background as Kira slowly checked on the rest of the tubes. They were at varying stages of recovery, with Tarn being the next closest to reaching the threshold. She had no idea how long it might take, but he only had five more points on the computer-derived scale of wellness remaining. It could mean hours or days, for all she knew.
Kira staggered to a couch in the room and lowered herself carefully to it. The padding was thin and even sitting on it caused a puff of dust to arise. Nevertheless, it felt heavenly to her. Before she knew it, she had slid down further and fell asleep, succumbing to the exhaustion that claimed her.
Kira awoke to an insistent chime. She jolted her head up, looking around, and instantly regretted it. Pain blossomed in her mind, a holdover from the condition her body was in and the residual effects the drugs in her body had caused. She sat up, feeling certain she was going to be sick again, but several deep breaths allowed her to regain control of herself. She glanced around, finding a display and wondering how long she’d slept. She couldn’t remember noticing it before she’d fallen asleep, so it could have been minutes or hours.
The chime persisted, drawing a breathy groan from her. She warily climbed to her feet, startling herself at how cool the metal floor felt on her naked soles. That had to be a good sign; it meant her core temperature had risen.
After a few experimental steps, she found her footing more stable. She glanced back at the closed sleeping tubes of the others and then nodded to herself. Even if she could wake them up it would be hours, at best, before they would be able to do anything. More likely days if they felt like she had. She gathered herself together and set off through the ship. It wasn’t until she reached the bridge and moved to her station that she realized she had yet to think of putting any clothing on. She shrugged it away. The ship’s climate control system had adjusted the temperature to accommodate them before they awoke. The floor might be cool but at least there was no danger of her freezing.
She read the displays slowly, refocusing as she grew distracted. Her stomach twisted, as though she needed a reminder that she was at or beyond starvation-level hungry. “Soon,” she promised herself, though the simple words exiting her throat made her fear how painful eating would be.
Doubling her efforts, she studied the map of the solar system, looking for opportunities. The ring of broken rock that rimmed the system was unusually dense, but not so much that she could not easily plot a course through it. She tested a few routes, judging that the minimal fuel usage would come from making minor corrections in the field, rather than trying to boost the ship above or below the central thickness of it.
She put in further instructions into the nav system, causing a slightly longer burn that would put the ship on an intercept course for a planet that preliminary sensor scans showed to be unusual. The modified mining sensors returned strange readings from it. The usual combination of metals and elements, but it also appeared to possess an unusual amount of water. Water in a liquid form, rather than frozen or gaseous.
Kira stood up too quickly, one hamstring cramping and her vision tinting dark as the blood failed to rise with her. She barely managed to fall back to her seat, crying out as she did so. She rubbed and stretched her leg, working the
cramp out, and then swallowed in an attempt to put out the fiery patch in her throat. More carefully this time, she rose up slowly with her hands on her station.
Vertical once more, she let out a faint smile at her triumph, and then turned to head out of the bridge. She paused on the way, her fingers idly resting on the arm of the Captain’s chair. She glanced around as quickly as her neck allowed, and then sat down in Captain Sharp’s chair. She settled into it, an arm on each rest, and then leaned back in it and enjoyed the unfamiliar comfort. From there she could see the entirety of the bridge, including the displays at each station.
“I could get used to this,” she whispered, and then enjoyed another quiet moment of reflection before feeling as though a knife speared through her intestines and twisted into her kidneys. She growled against the pain and rose up, slowly. “Fine, I’ll feed you,” she muttered, hobbling out of the bridge and towards the galley.
Years of dust and misuse covered everything in the galley. Even coaxing water from the faucet took minutes rather than seconds. The initial water seemed discolored as well, though she knew the ship’s automated systems would have stirred the potable water tanks, applying chemicals necessary to purify them. Nonetheless, she let the water cycle for several minutes before she dared to rinse out a cup and then fill it.
The feel of the water on her lips was beyond description to her. It was cool but it stung as it reached into cracks in her lips that she had grown accustomed to. The first bite of stretched and aggravated tissue in her throat soothed with each gentle swallow. It was only through supreme force of will that she stopped herself after only a few small swallows. Just in time, fresh chaos within her stomach made her knees buckle. Only by grabbing on to the counter and slamming her legs into the panel beneath it did she keep from falling.
Several minutes of fighting the seemingly shark-skinned monster in her belly passed in what Kira was sure took at least a lifetime. Finally she was able to pick her head up enough to see that her cup had somehow been thrown across the counter, spilling the precious water within it. The last thing she wanted to see at that point was more water, but she also knew it was exactly what she needed.
She gathered another cup, rinsed it out, and then tried to drink again. The results were similar, though not quite as debilitating. If water was that hard to get down, how would she ever be able to stomach the solid food she really needed? Kira fought the tears of desperation that threatened to blind her. She looked around, blinking rapidly and sniffing just as rapidly to keep her nose from running. She was a mess. Why couldn’t Eric have woken up before her and taken care of her? Even the Captain would have been a welcomed helping hand. Tarn — no, okay, not Tarn. Jeff had given her some hungry looks too, so she didn’t think being this weak and alone with him while the others slept was a good idea either.
Kira glanced down at her deflated body and almost felt the urge to chuckle. She’d have trouble getting a man who’d spent the last twenty years in prison to find her attractive. She pushed the thought aside and looked around again at the appliances. Her eyes fell on the powdered protein dispenser, and then the flavor packets beside it. She glanced back at the sink, wondering how disgusting it would be to try and drink a protein soup.
Kira gasped, which caused her throat to constrict in momentary pain. She didn’t need a soup; she needed a shake! She turned to another machine and punched in commands on the old fashioned button-style interface, and then poured some protein powder into her empty cup. She grabbed up two chocolate flavor packets and, after nipping them with her teeth to help her open them, she dumped them in as well. Moving as quickly as she could, she slipped the cup under the dispenser and waited impatiently for the ready indicator to light up. As soon as it did, she pressed the dispensing button and watched the mixture of hot water and synfeine pour into her cup.
Ignoring the heat, Kira stuck her finger in the cup and started to swirl it around. She hissed after a minute, pulling her scalded finger out and quickly stuck it in her mouth. The flavors burst across her tongue like an explosion, shocking her with their intensity at first, and then making her suck on her finger harder. She realized a moment later what she was doing and managed a snicker at her behavior. She gently blew on the steaming liquid and then sipped it carefully.
It burned her lips and tongue, but in spite of that it tasted delicious. She swallowed carefully, feeling the warmth spreading down her throat and into her belly and soothing her. In spite of her trepidations, her stomach opted to behave this time around. She sipped again, repeating the experience and fighting the urge to guzzle the drink.
Kira moved carefully to the table and sat down, holding the cup between her hands and feeling the warmth leaking through it. She drank sparingly, wondering how she could have disliked the taste before. Then again, considering the state her body was in she would have probably found just about anything organic to taste delicious. She pushed the thought away before her mind could chase it down some of the more disturbing paths it could take.
Before she knew it, the cup was empty. She stared into it, wanting more but knowing better. Her stomach felt bloated and uncomfortably full as it was. Her jaw stretched as she yawned, which turned into a grimace as sore tissue was stretched. She climbed to her feet and made her way back to the bridge, this time settling into the Captain’s chair without a second thought.
Kira pressed her data port into the one built into the armrest of the Captain’s chair. She routed output to the main display instead of the fold-out one that was part of the chair and proceeded to check on her crewmates. Little had changed, aside from nominal increases in the computer-designated health scores. She sighed upon noting that Tarn was still going to be the first to awaken, and then dug deeper into the new solar system. If she truly was the first human to set eyes on it, she wondered if she could name it. She smirked. The Kiran system had a nice ring to it.
Chapter 14
Captain Sharp, Eric, and Jeff woke up within half an hour of each other. Kira had slipped back into her regular clothing in preparation for Tarn coming around. To spare as much awkwardness as possible, she’d given him a robe to wear after he had emerged from his own chamber. She’d needed to help him get out and put it on, something she remembered with considerable distaste. Another two days of nursing him back to health was only slightly lower on her scale of things she hoped to never need to do again.
Getting the other three up and active was a little easier with Tarn helping her. So much so that she was able to focus on helping Eric with his first meal, the same shake she had made herself what seemed like a lifetime ago.
“It’s pretty good,” she told him, sliding it in front of where he sat at a table. He offered her what she assumed was an attempt at a smile. She smiled in return, remembering all too well how he was feeling.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad you guys are wiped out,” Kira whispered after she’d sat next to him and put her arm around him. She could feel how cool his body was even through the robe he wore. “It’s not some mothering instinct or anything; I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you guys didn’t feel as bad as I did when I woke up first.”
Eric glanced at her at first, and then looked back at the cup in front of him. He lifted it carefully, his hands shaking slightly, and took a sip of it. Kira felt her cheeks threatening to split, she was grinning so widely. Eric had raised it again and was drinking as rapidly as his body and the hot liquid would allow.
“Careful,” she admonished, gently pulling the cup from him. “Your stomach won’t be able to handle it all at once.” Kira remembered her first few sips of water and shuddered.
A moment later Eric was drinking again, stopping himself after a few swallows and pacing himself. He glanced at her and tried to smile again, but the obvious pain in the expression brought tears to Kira’s eyes. She hugged him close, remembering only at the last minute not to squeeze too hard.
“I didn’t realize how alone I’ve been these last couple of
weeks,” she whispered to him.
He stared at her, his eyes clear from fatigue and pain for a brief moment. Kira nodded. “Yes, I’ve been awake for just over thirteen days. Tarn’s been up for three. We recovered faster because of the genetic modifications we’ve had. I’m still not sure what all is in me, and I may never know, but I’m not complaining! Without it there’s no way I could have pulled myself out of my cold sleep tube.”
Eric pulled away and stared at her, his lips open, clearly showing the cracks in the dried-out skin. Kira wanted to kiss him, but restrained herself, knowing it would only hurt him more than it would comfort him. “Trust me and get some rest. Don’t speak; it only hurts. A few days and you’ll be back to normal, especially with nurse Kira tending to you. And don’t get me started about the sponge bath I’m looking forward to giving you after you’re feeling better!”
She saw his smile turn to a wince. Eric turned back to the drink to finish it, and then let Kira help him up. She led him to the crew quarters and tucked him into his cot, taking special care not to rush him. He fell asleep almost instantly, giving her a few moments to stare at him. Even looking starved and pathetic, she still felt something stirring inside her chest for him. She knelt down next to him and gently kissed him on the temple.
“I think I love you,” she whispered, and then quickly stood up and glanced around. Jeff was already asleep a few cots away and the Captain had yet to make his way in. She smiled once more at Eric’s sleeping body, and then turned and hurried back to the bridge.
“Captain!” Kira blurted out in surprise. Sharp was sitting on his chair, with Tarn standing close enough for Kira to surmise that he had just helped the stubborn man into it.
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