Hibernation

Xavier, Wednesday the 22nd of July 2145 07:21, Alpha Delta Three. Remote outpost 45. Current crew: 21.

Xavier wrapped the space blanket around his gaunt frame, it was a running joke he hated the cold. It’s why he moved to New Australia, nothing like the sunny outback; Flies and King Browns would be good companionship for a spatial scientist like him. A chattering from his teeth reverberated through the steel room. “Not exactly heat insulating material there Xeno-Corp” he said to the chilly air.

He looked back down at his journal. A real paper journal, ‘well it was a notebook’ he thought. But anything can be a journal. Not like his digital log, the was ‘suppose’ to be private but could be viewed by Michael. A weak smile crossed his sullen face, angled features and olive skin looked a shade too white. Xavier with a shaking hand kept writing.

“Consciousness is a funny thing, one moment you’re conscious- that is responding to outside stimulus, or was it stimuli? I’m not a biologist, or was it psychologist?

The next you are A-grade out cold. In my case it was literally. Sorry, the humour is the only thing keeping me warm. That’s how I woke up, alone in the cryo-bay with fleeting inky dreams of the cold outside. I’m a cartographer, I’m suppose to be woken up last”.

Xavier, Monday the 20nd of July 2145 01:57, Alpha Delta Three. Remote outpost 45. Current crew: 22

Xavier definitely wasn’t responding when that stimuli happen to be, a face first smack into the cryo pod entry bay. “Ow” Xavier said shaking off the drug induced sleep. “Well, you’d think Xeno-Corp would build an arrest device”. Xeno-Corp did in fact, build an arrest device to prevent those waking up from unceremoniously going ass-over-tits. But it was ‘an optional extra’. The cryo attendant was suppose to ‘arrest’ the new awakee’s fall.

“Where is everyone? Rude. James!” Xavier’s voice echoed through the empty room. The cryo pod entry bay was a spacious room. Pods with other sleeping humans flanked the inside parameter on the long ends. The rectangular room terminated with doors on the short ends. The doors reminded him of those Japanese sliding doors from the 21st century. He liked whenever he mentioned this a new crew member- they’d either exclaim with laughter or confusion. Xavier knew the history buffs would naturally find amusement in this, and used that simile to detect them.

Xavier picked himself up, Hell, James wasn’t going to do it. Pain rocketed down his hamstring and he was, once again back on the grayish floor. ‘Stupid cramp’ the thought as if trying to will it away. But it persisted for another few minutes. Finally the pain dissipated and with some helpful stretching tentatively stood back up.

The room was awash with an reddish light. The colour of rust gave the room an ‘evil overlord throne room’ vibe. Xavier smiled at thought. None of the other cryo pods were open. Xavier wondered how red emitted by the cryo-pods had become the villainous colour of choi- None of the other cryo pods were open. A jolt of recognition fired through his still hazy brain. His knees gave an involuntary shake. ‘What?’ he thought. Xavier looked behind him. A lone cryo-pod hatch sat upright like an open fighter jet cockpit.

“Not the only one” he mused. He took a deep breath to control himself. “Who are you?” he said walking up to the pod. Looking for the nameplate as he got closer. ‘Oh, it’s Hiro’s'. Hiro he knew, was one of the woman that was an aircraft engineer. Those with a bit of knowledge of everything to manage Xeno-Corps space and atmosphere rated aircraft. He gave Hiro’s pod a disapproving look, since Hiro was unfortunately absent, as if the cryo-pod was to blame.

He looked forward to the end of the room and saw no other pods open. “Better go find her then”. Xavier walked steadily towards the far door to go deeper into the research outpost, and promptly hit the ground due another leg cramp.

Michael, Thursday, the 23rd of July 2145 23:45, Alpha Delta Three. Remote outpost 45. Current crew: 20.

“What does it say?” the gruff voice of Romel said looking over Michael’s shoulder. “Just wait” Michael replied, “I’m still reading. He’s going on about psychologists and biologists”

Romel was silent: “What?” His voice incredulous

“He always was a bit strange” Michael agreed

Romel’s Hungarian accent was thick, making him, at times hard to understand. “That outback sun must have fried his head”.

It was James’ voice that broke the cold silence. “Heating’s back online boss”. He said through the receiver in Michael’s ear.

“Good stuff” Michael replied over the comm channel. He stood shorter than most and was the leader of outpost 45 but more importantly had a bulk from his old football days, making him useful at moving heavy things. His graying chest hair and receding hairline showed his age and what he had witnessed being a long range expedition leader.

“Where’s Xavier? Hiro?”

Michael stared at deep gash in the corridor in front of him. He’d found another one down the hall near the floor as if someone had crawled and scraped a knife along the bottom of the skirting boards- or where the skirting boards would be if this wasn’t a flush, metal corridor.

“Still don’t know. We’re looking boss” James responded.

“I’ll look at the book” Romel stated, reaching for it. Michael jerked it away.

“Enough! go do something useful and get the radar running again” Michael snapped.

Romel about faced and walked down the corridor where him and Michael were standing. Romel had located the book only minutes earlier. It sat with a brown cover and solitary in the middle of the eastern corridor like a Trappist monk. Romel was tasked with getting long range communications and radar back online. A difficult task since winter was still raging, but there isn’t primary, secondary and tertiary system redundancies for the easy days.

Romel’s voice came over the open channel. “James, you’ll need to come to the eastern storeroom near the radar wing, an oil pipe burst”

A silence reigned over the channel, Michael saw the big man standing in open doorway down the now lit corridor.

“There’s no oil lines-

Romel screamed and jumped out of the doorway as if trying to evade a hulking monster inside. He looked at Micheal eyes wide in terror.

-through storerooms. What colour is the pipe that burst?”

Michael was beside him. A dark red splattered along the shelves and airtight containers on the shelves.

“Hey! What colour was the pipe that burst? What chemical is it? Do I need a suit to go in there?” An annoyed tone cracked over the communication channel.

“Yeah you will” Michael replied. He knew the human body had a lot of blood, but that fact and this much blood usually accompanied a corpse. Dark blood stained the room as if it was a gruesome canvas, it had been there for some time. Frozen still in the storeroom from the cold and lack of heating.

Michael coolly peered into the open door. The other wall wasn’t much different. A lone drop of blood fell from the roof. Like the first sprinkle of an upcoming downpour.

“Huh, how about that?” he mused to himself.

“H-how a-about that? Listen to yourself!” Romel said behind him. Michael didn’t turn to face him.

Micheal responded over the comms. “James, do we have security online yet?”

“No” “No” both Romel and James replied. James over the comms, Romel’s voice directly behind him.

“We need to…” Romel trailed off as if reliving the last minute.

“Wake up security…” Michael said flatly “… and get the security camera recording back up as well”. ‘Something bad happened here’ Michael realised, maybe a little too late. He shut the door to the store room. It clunked three times, closing in thirds, like a three stage piston.

The door stood afflicted with deep dark gouges and criss-crossed the door as if a violent and enthusiastic game of tic-tac-toe, initially hidden while the door was recessed in the wall. The walls and doors were blast door grade alloys. Michael considered silently, it would take something with incredible composition on the Moh hardness scale to even make a scratch.

He thought with his hand on covering his mouth in thought. A final thought dark crossed his mind, Was it Xavier, Hiro or both in there? At least what’s left of them anyway.

*****

THE EBD