1 Chapter 1

1: Crash

Adam Evans lay in his stasis chamber, in limbo between consciousness and the oblivion of induced sleep. Although his eyes were closed, he had a strong sense that something was askew. His body ached, more than usual after such a long hibernation, and he felt somewhat awkward within the confines of his coffin-sized capsule. With a great degree of effort he willed himself to roll onto his side, but he misjudged the force needed and toppled forwards. He was falling. The unexpected sensation sent a surge of adrenalin coursing through his veins. His eyes shot open seconds before his head connected with the floor of the space shuttle in a flash of pain.

He dragged himself across the floor with weak and shaky arms, easing the rest of his body out of the damaged stasis chamber. His legs flopped onto the deck with a thud and for a few minutes he lay with his eyes closed, trying to comprehend where he was and what had happened.

The feeling of spreading wetness finally roused Adam. He opened his eyes to see the cabin filling with water. He sat up, a little too quickly; the action causing a spray of stars to dart about in front of his eyes. He pressed his hands against the throbbing in his temples and gently raised himself to his feet.

He looked in the direction of the cockpit, further down in the water, and saw three bodies almost completely submerged. Only the shoulders and heads of the captain, his co-pilot, and the communications officer were visible. The image was surreal. Inside his head he heard their voices; giving instructions and calling out information to each other as they had done when all five of the crew were last awake together. Now they were lifeless mannequins.

He turned to inspect the second stasis chamber, where Jason, the fifth member of the crew was, and found it relatively intact. His own chamber had twisted off its base and sat on its side, wedged against the second unit. Gripping the side and bending his legs, he dug his feet in and with an almighty tug, he managed to pull it back towards its base, though only enough to gain access to Jason’s chamber.

The water was rising rapidly and had reached the top of his calf muscles. Oxygen was becoming scarce and despite the amount of water seeping in, he was sweating. His instincts were screaming at him to flee, yet a stronger part of his psyche refused to entertain the idea. Not when there was a colleague that needed assistance. He lifted the cover on the control panel of Jason’s stasis unit, punched in the code that would raise the transparent cover, and was surprised to find that it was still operational.

“Jason! Wake up!” he said, gently shaking him.

At first there was no sign of life. Jason’s bearded face remained still. Only a slight movement of his nostrils indicated that there was life in the pale body at all.

“Jason! Wake up! We’ve got to get out of here.” He shook his crew mate a little more vigorously and was rewarded with a groan. “Jason. It’s Adam. Let’s go.”

Jason moaned and tried to shrug Adam’s hand off his shoulder, but his movements were sluggish and Adam kept shaking him. Finally, Jason opened his eyes.

“What’s going on?” he asked with a slight slur to his words. His eyes blinked rapidly, trying to accustom themselves to the light. “What are you doing?”

“The shuttle has crashed, buddy. It’s taking in water. We’ve got to get out of here.”

Adam threaded his arm around Jason’s back and began to lift him into a sitting position, but he’d barely moved his friend when Jason held his hand up in a gesture to stop.

“Buddy, we’ve got to get the fuck out of here.”

Jason frowned. “Just give me a God-damned minute, would you? I can barely move.” His eyes met Adam’s and held their gaze. “Just a minute, okay?”

Adam nodded, though he knew he was frowning, too. “Sure thing.”

He glanced over his shoulder then without another word he waded through the rising water to the shuttle door. When his hands found the handle he attempted to turn it. It was stiff at first and required a few attempts before it budged, but he was determined. I haven’t survived this bloody crash just to drown now,he thought to himself.

“Are you ready?” he called out to Jason. “As soon as I get this door open, that water’s going to come rushing in.”

Jason nodded reluctantly. An attempt to stand up resulted in him faltering, then crashing down on his arse. He grimaced as he hit the deck.