Spaceport West
Page 5
“Really, simple as that?” Aster wasn’t looking entirely convinced.
“Tell you what, if you want, why not help me monitor the rest of the crew as they go under for the first 24 hours or so? Then, once you’re happy, you can join them. How’s that sound?”
“What about you Tiggy, aren’t you sleeping?”
“Of course, but I need to stay conscious for the first couple of days, just to keep an eye on everyone. Not really necessary, just protocol. I’ll be having some natural sleep in that time obviously.”
“What happens if there’s a fault in the system and we’re not revived?” interrupted Sky, who had been listening in.
“That’s extremely unlikely Ventura, but worst case scenario, we’d arrive at Mars having slept for the entire trip and they’d have to revive us when we got there. We’d be slightly worse for wear having not done our exercises but nothing drastic. Anyway, won’t happen.”
The recruits looked more or less convinced by her assurances, and one by one they clambered into the frigosleep pods.
“Aster, go and fetch Detroit and Truth would you, they need to go under now, and then it’ll just be us.”
For the next couple of days Tiggy and Aster amused themselves watching the stars, peering at their crew-mates beneath the frosty glass lids and catching up on some daytime TV. Eventually Aster, and then finally Tiggy went under.