"Crew, this is your warm down session, you will be entering your first unknown galaxy in approximately 2 hours" the ship brain was preparing the crew for the next stage of their mission, exploration outside of the ship to assess the atmosphere. Casey opened her eyes and felt really good, she was warm and light headed and had a sense of calm. They had been in suspended animation for 10 years, but to them it felt like 5 minutes, it was now time to begin examining and exploring the galaxy outside and she had a smile on her face. She looked over to the left and could see Jake in his pod, he was looking at her and pulling a stupid face - idiot, she giggled out loud. It seemed strange to hear herself as there had been no noise and no activity for so long.
After one hour of reintegrating, alignment adjusting and well being checks, the next stage of the process was to ready the crew for their exploration mission. This involved encasing each crew member with their life support skins which were equipped with their personal survival units. The ship brain spoke "crew you have 10 minutes reprieve before the life support skins are activated". Casey could feel her body becoming heavier as the levitation process wore off, after a few seconds she was standing upright, she walked over to Jake.
"This is it Case, god I feel great!, cannot wait to get out there - still nervous?" She looked at him and unexpectedly something in her stirred, if only you had been romance material Jakey, she thought (maybe it was the after effect of the journey) - she smiled widely at him, "no nerves Jakey, just very excited now, who knows what's out there hey?" They embraced, longer than usual Jake loved this woman more than anyone alive and he was truly thankful for her in his life - she was his rock and he loved her, if only.......he shook his head and smiled.
They parted and looked at each other "don't take any stupid risks Jakey" Casey frowned at him mockingly "don't stop telling me what to do Case for gods sake" he put his arm around her shoulder put her head in a head lock and rubbed the top of her head "OK squirt!!"
The ship brain spoke "crew please take your places to initiate life support skins"
She squealed and pulled away from him laughing "seeya later" she waved at him as she walked away. Each crew member stood on a nominated mark, straight, aligned and waited for the process to begin. The life support skins fitted perfectly over the body, they really were a second skin - but each one had been designed to perfection against each crew members DNA and metaphysical requirements. The process began it took just 2 minutes, they were ready. Once the skins had been activated a period of quiet meditation was required for alignment and adjustment, Casey almost laughed, she knew this was Jakes biggest challenge.
They stood, effortless in a circle there was no thought, no sound, just silence and peace. Then unexpectedly the ship brain spoke "crew there is evidence of a malfunction in the outer layer of the ship, be prepared to abort, await further instruction" Casey could feel her heart rate rise, she knew they were supposed to be in the quiet meditation phase for at least an hour to ensure the skins worked, this technology was sensitive, how long had it been - shit! she had lost all sense of time, she turned to the left and saw Jake was moving in slow motion from the initiation spot, everything was lucid, he reached out to her - she heard his voice echoing I the distance "Case, come on you need to move" she realised she could not move "Case! MOVE IT!!!" Everything speeded up and she lurched forward with a jerk, "Jake I think there's something wrong with my skin, its not responding, I feel heavy, can't........ communicate....well" there was a bright light - hypnotic - everything was in slow motion, the ship seemed to just disappear, she saw other crew members activating their survival units - they were beautiful orbs of light - she gasped, she could not move - then she saw Jake, he was shouting at her, she could not hear him, he was crying, she wanted to tell him how much she loved him but she could not - then she felt his arms around her and she was surrounded by light.
