THE TITAN EXPERIMENT

CHAPTER 34 - Reunited

The moment Sarah's finger touched the download tab, a brilliant light pulsed across her vision and diffused into a kaleidoscope of colors. She squeezed her eyelids shut and quaked, rocking back and forth in the chair, oblivious to the cockpit and the rest of the bridge. The swirling rainbows melted together and materialized into a freeze-frame of fragmented images. Like a digital puzzle, the fractured scene crystallized into a crisp view, displayed in super-high definition. The image was unmistakable; a blueprint of a wheel-like object with spokes connecting to a central hub. Next, an official document appeared, sealed and approved by Admiral Woodrow Jax himself, his thumbprint attached to the bottom righthand corner. The admiral's smug chin and square jaw hardened with razor-sharp intensity, his lips mouthing the words: top secret, authorization, order. His dark eyes probed Sarah's thoughts, as if he were strolling through the corridors of her mind.

A euphoric warmth spread around the spot where the plug connected into her skull. The heat grew, encompassing her face, neck, arms, legs, hands, and feet. It radiated from the crown of her head, pulsating, tingling. Then the feeling vanished, gone in a nanosecond, replaced by a powerful surge that paralyzed her body into a network of rigid muscles. Slowly, her arms and legs relaxed, her extremities going limp from the rush of adrenaline.

The download was complete.

Her eyes opened.

Reflected on the memory screen, strands of Sarah's burnt orange hair swayed out from her head like it floated on water. She unplugged the cord and rose from the chair. Her orders weighed heavily on her conscience, like a physical burden. Her shoulders drooped and eyes narrowed into a tunnel vision as she passed under the arch of the hatchway, hair trailing behind her.

She approached Commander Phoenix Drake's cryo chamber, pressed her finger on the glass lid of his unit, and brought up a soft blue display. Inside the box, a triangle beacon radiated a red warning that read, Emergency Override. To the right, a green circle glowed, surrounding the words, Normal Wake Procedure. She knew what would happen if she selected the override option, and it wouldn't be good for Phoenix Drake.

Sarah tapped her fingertip on the red triangle. Gases flooded the interior of the sleep unit, flowing over the commander's body.

She didn't have time for the cryo unit to warm their cores to the proper temperature, or for their heart rates to climb to pre-hibernation levels. She had to act fast, so she stepped over to Lieutenant Commander Nova Kailani's chamber, brought up the options screen, and pressed the pulsating triangle. A combination of gases coursed over her unconscious form.

Now, for the others. Sarah didn't need them immediately, so she selected the green circle for the normal wake procedure. No sense in putting them at the same risk as the pilots. They would awake within an hour, as she had with no adverse side effects.

Phoenix's bloodshot eyes popped open. A fraction of a second later, his chin dropped, mouth agape. He sucked a breath into his lungs. It sounded like he was strangling, forcing air through a straw. His torso twisted, hands pressing against the glass lid that sealed him inside the chamber.

Sarah opened the sleep unit—his body shivered, gripped in the thralls of hypothermia. The heated cushion beneath him began restoring his core temperature, but he would need more help to conserve warmth.

Sarah raced over to a cabinet at the far end of the hibernation section. She grabbed a pair of folded thermal blankets, rushed back to the commander, and covered his body with one of them. The magnetic subfloor pulled on the shiny metallic blanket, keeping it from floating away in zero gravity.

Hands pounded on glass nearby, averting Sarah's attention.

Nova Kailani.

Sarah moved over to Nova's unit, opened it, and lay the second blanket over her writhing form.