Among The Stars: Phantom and Mercenary

Chapter 3 - I, E T

She was dead. Of that much she was sure.

But what she less sure of was why she still felt the twitching in her muscles.

Jane finally opened her eyes, she found herself confined in a flooded capsule and she was drowning. Her first instinct to shout for help was immediately suppressed by her quick reflexes. Instead of feeling terrified, years of training had taught her to master her surroundings first. Holding her last breath, she pounded on the glass door with both fists, harder and harder each time. When she realized the door was unbreakable, Jane checked her strange confinement, looking frantically for a possible way out.

Cloaked. Gahtan stood silently before the stasis pod, he crossed his arms on the chest, watching the ooman female pounding inside the pod madly, struggled to get out. He decided to wait as he wondered how long it would take for her to pass out from holding her breath. It'd be interesting to see.

Just breathe, ooman. He thought, and from the smug look on his face, it was obvious that he was beginning to enjoy this. It was, in fact, a nice little distraction for him right now. Monitoring the bad bloods on his ship for two days had been extremely tedious.

Jane's hands checked every surface, looking for a hidden trigger or a button to open the door, but from what she could see, either the door wasn't designed to open from inside, or she didn't have access. She was trapped in here. Feeling frustrated, Jane banged on the glass again. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, her brain was screaming for oxygen. Unable to hold her breath any longer, Jane released the remaining air in her lungs, continued to hold her breath until she was almost passed out due to lack of oxygen. Subliminally, Jane opened her mouth to breathe in deeply, she knew she wouldn't make it.

You are going to die for real this time. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Epitaph: Jane Campbell. Age 30. Cause of death: drowning.

Then Jane realized that drowning sensation which she was expecting, it never came. Instead she felt cool air filling her lungs again when she breathed, which made her questioning her sanity. To make sure she wasn't hallucinating, she inhaled again tentatively and slowly. This time, Jane was certain that she was indeed breathing in the liquid. Amazed, she breathed out through her mouth once again, watched the liquid flowing around her - it was some type of gel compound upon closer examination - The sensation of the gel felt foreign. She had never seen such technology like this before. But now wasn't the time to delve into science.

Feeling both dumbstruck and relieved, Jane adjusted her breathing and quickly pulled herself together. Beyond the clear glass door, it was a room that looked sterile: gunmetal grey all around, thin strips of bright light inlaid in the walls were the only source of illumination. She didn't know how she ended up in here, but she needed to get out first.

No longer worried about drowning, Jane concentrated on her escape, kicking and banging on the door again and again, determined to break the only thing that kept her from the outside world.

To him, the face of the ooman female after she realized she could breath in the compound was priceless.

So primitive. Gahtan's expression was contemptuous and amused in equal measure.

The ooman was alive and kicking again. He'd like to enjoy this distraction a bit longer if the constant banging noise reverberating around the room hadn't ruined his mood. That was the end of his short entertainment, he supposed.

Gahtan finally walked over to the stasis pod, his clawed fingers pressed on the haptic glass lid a few times and stepped aside as the door slid open upon his command. The female dropped to the ground, as good as a newborn suckling. He stood there, still cloaked. Waiting for the ooman to recover from the aftereffects of the healing gel.