All The Stars In The Sky

interstellar deviance

how strange to dream of you,
even when i'm wide awake. 

PART I 

October 31st, 2318. Entry #1.

Most of the time, things aren't permanent, as much as you think they will be. Sometimes you have to let go and make the most of what you have. It's a hard lesson to learn, I think.

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When I first woke up, I didn't remember anything.

I didn't have time to figure out why, either. Liquid fire was pouring from a crack in the glass window, leaking into the chamber of a spaceship that I didn't remember boarding.

But I couldn't move, because my arms were pinned down. My vision was distorted by gel over my eyes - gel from a cryopod. I'd been jolted awake by an electric shock - the type they used to restart lives. I squinted, regaining some senses.

The clear substance was leaking into my ears. Pressure from the liquid crushing my skull, and I couldn't breath, couldn't move -

And suddenly the pressure was lifted, and a face was hovering over mine. A muffled voice, sounding distant. "Get up! You have to go!"

A boy leaned over me, blond hair contrasting sharply with the darkness above him as he pried open my cuffs. I gasped for air, realizing gel was leaking into my oxygen mask - a space mask. Were we in space?

"Get up," he repeated, "You have to go."

I pushed myself up, arms trembling. I opened my mouth to ask a question, but no sound came out. My throat seemed physically incapable of producing anything.

I sat up, but the boy pulled me into a standing position instead. I tried to squint through the gel-filled mask, but the ship was too dim, and the only source of light was the fire from above us, illuminating the room as it burned.

I could roughly make out the figures of four other people.

The boy seemed to be panicking. And I couldn't blame him. Half the glass was gone; and I could see endless darkness, and stars.

How did I get here?

He tugged on my arm. "Go,"

I managed to stumble a few steps.

"Follow them." The boy pointed at the figures that were disappearing down the end of a hallway. I forced my legs into a walk, one step at a time.

I almost tripped over several other cryopods - and made the mistake of looking at them. The only thing left of the bodies in the pods were black, withered skeletons, like people who'd died thousands of years ago.

Just how long had I been here?

Bile rose in my throat and I came to a stop, but the boy shoved me forward. I stumbled, turning around, right as a chunk of the fiery liquid leaked onto the transparent material of the boy's suit. His eyes widened as the liquid started bubbling. Despite the strong protective material, it wasn't going to last.

His eyes seemed to glow as he concentrated, but they dimmed, and he groaned in frustration. His form shimmered, but nothing happened.

"Keep going." He mouthed. He was clearly panicking now, but I was too groggy to help, too tired to process what I'd witnessed.

I felt like I was dragging my feet through concrete, and everything was sluggish. I couldn't hear properly. It felt like I was underwater.

I made it to the end of the hallway, too afraid to look back. It was dark enough that I couldn't see anything, but I knew there were four other people in the hallway.