Nanoprep 2023 Day 2: Condensation
By Robin de Voh on 2023-10-03
My vision is blurry, and I'm hurting all over, but especially my head. I can sense I'm not free to move, because even with the slightest wiggle of my arm I can feel some tension holding it back. I blink a few times, but it hardly helps. I try to sit up and after a few inches, I bump my head.
Oh. I know where I am. This isn't good. Actually, this sucks.
I wiggle my arm again. I twist it a little and feel the recognizable force of a cryo lead, used to pump stuff into our veins to freeze us safely. Shit. I'm in a cryogenic pod.
I'm not supposed to be, am I? I don't think so. I remember we were on our way to our target planet, Lapidus IV, and we were... Wait, did we arrive? Or were we about to? I vaguely think I remember putting the Huell in orbit, but it's hard to tell what is a real memory, and what I'm willing into being at this point.
I shake my head, trying to clear the fog, and a thought pops into my head. I turn my head to the side and find that I can read some of the emergency exit sign on the side of the pod. My vision isn't blurry, the glass cover is.
Oh no. Suddenly the chill hits me.
Not a cryogenic chill, but an all-encompassing chill, that of a vacuum. I move my head up again, against the glass, and holding it there I can feel a great cold on the other side. I swipe my head left and right as far as it will go, while still pressing my forehead against the glass.
When I let my head fall back, I can see out, through the beads of condensation. The utter darkness of space. My breath stops for a second, and I'm sure my heart does too. I'm too shocked to notice, really.
I'm in a cryo pod. In space. I fumble with the cryo lead, and find it around but not attached to my arm. Okay, so I wasn't meant to be frozen. I'm not in the ship anymore, so somehow the pod got.. Ejected? I didn't know they could do that. I try to look down along my body, and see that I'm wearing my regular clothes. So definitely not dressed for space.
I look out through the glass pane separating me from imminent death, and notice it isn't just water droplets from condensation on there. Some of it seems red. I move my head up and lick some of it. Metallic. Blood.
Head-wound. No wonder it hurts so much.
Cryo pod, head wound, ejected, casual clothes, not frozen, can't remember.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure none of this is in any of the instruction booklets we were given by ESA. I'm screwed.
My breathing starts to increase in speed, not a full on panic attack, but the beginnings of one. I try everything I can think of to calm down, but the thoughts I keep having are more about how I don't know if cryo pods even have oxygen systems, or how long I'd been out here, or whether the Huell even still existed, or what happened the day before. Or days, even.
Who did this? Was it me? Some dare I lost? Was it someone else? ... Fucking Howard. If anyone, it would have been fucking Howard. That weaselly little shit.
Calm down, Remy, calm the fuck down. Whether this thing has an oxygen system or not, it'll run out eventually either way, however long you've already been in here. Calm. Down.
I need something resembling a plan. I'll give up when I have to. I turn my head to the right and read the emergency exit sign again. Hm... There! Every pod comes with a long-range communicator, in case someone wakes up in one, and the entire team is on an away mission or something. It should be near my left hand.
Now that I know I was looking for something -- and what, since I vaguely remember this being mentioned and shown during the safety training -- I quickly find the communications panel. I locate the button I remembered most, not because it was most likely to be the most relevant, but literally the biggest, brightest button on the panel.
I made a mental note to pay more attention to trainings from here on in.
I hit the button and a squeeeeee goes around the entire pod. Then a hissing noise.
"Hi, hey, it's Remy! I seem to be... Not on the ship anymore? Anyone out there? It's Remy. From the Huell. The navigator. Remy."
I add "Help!" after a short pause, not knowing what else to say.
No response. I repeat the message. No response.
I decide to just keep sending messages until my air runs out. I end up counting to 60 in my head between messages, and even though I lost count of it, I must have kept going for over 4 hours.
By now I'm extremely hungry. My previous message was probably a bit less informative than the first, since I just said my first name, and then started listing all the foods I wanted to eat. Ending it with "Remy, as always, hungrily drifting in space."
The audio crackles. My ears perk up. It crackles again.
"Hello? Remy here! Anyone hearing me?"
Another crackle, then a faint voice. I punch the communications panel and seemingly that works. Also pretty sure no training would ever tell you to do that. Only afterwards I realize one of the buttons might actually say 'open cover', flinging my through space. I vowed not to do it again.
But it worked.
"Remy? You there? Avery here."
"Yeah! Remy! That's me!"
"Oh, thank the stars! Are you okay?"
"Hungry to the point of becoming feral, and I've got a bit of a headwound."
"Are you stable?"
"Stable. You guys tracking my signal?"
"Yeah, we're on our way!"
I sigh in relief. I feel the tension in my body flow away. It's not a guarantee it'll be quick, or that they'll even get to me in time -- since I'm still not sure whether the pod has an oxyge...
"Avery? Do these things have any auxiliary oxygen systems?"
"Uhm, yeah, but they're pretty small. We should be able to get to you in time though. Best if we talk little until we pick you up."
"Okay. Just one last question though. Why am I here? What happened?"
I could hear Avery sigh, but not out of frustration. Like she was afraid I'd ask that question, and then I did. Then I hear some muddled voices discussing, presumably about whether to tell me or not, but that's just a guess.
"Okay, so, you don't remember?"
"No. I don't know if I did it myself or if it was one of you."
"Ah. That must be due to the head wound, we'll have to check that out when you get back. So, err, this is awkward to say, but I'd rather you know and come to terms with it sooner rather than later."
I tense up again immediately.
"Yesterday night, you, Laetitia, Tex, and Howard were playing poker, and you may have beaten Howard a few times too many for his liking. And we both know you've got a tendency to target him, and I guess during his non-cryo shifts he had some time to think, and he decided it'd be best if you were simply... Elsewhere."
"What? So, Howard, what, conked me over the head and threw me in this pod, and then ejected it? Like some crazy space loon?"
"Basically."
The tension in my body multiplies, but now out of pure anger.
"Remy, you okay? We locked him up, so that's sorted."
"That's good. I'm fine. Let's not talk until you're closer."
"Alright. Probably within the hour. See you then. Stay strong."
I hit the big bright button again and the crackle stops. Alone with my thoughts again.
Well, thoughts, by now I only really have one.
"Fucking Howard. That weaselly little shit."