Prisoner Six

Part 11

The blast wave from the detonation sent a massive shudder throughout the ship. Sam expected a second blast to send her into the next world. To end her life once and for all. It took a few moments for her to realize there was no second blast... and she wasn't dead.

Sam withdrew from Dave's arms, looking at him in disbelief. Somehow, inexplicably, they were both alive.

"Trust me now?" he said. Sam gave him a taut smile, not ready to concede.

"Vox?" she asked for confirmation.

"No damage to Externo," said Vox. "The reactor's instability must have lessened the force of the explosion. Or perhaps the blast radius was overestimated."

"Perhaps," agreed Sam suspiciously.

"Now what?" asked Dave.

It took Sam a moment to regain her wits. No, they weren't dead—but they soon would be if they didn't figure out this new plan. "We should start the power transfer to the landing module," she said. "There's not much left, so we'll have to work fast... if we're going to save them."

Dave smiled in relief and squeezed Sam's hand. She looked down, surprised to find she was still holding it.

"First things first," he said, pulling her along. "I want you to meet them."

***

Day 744 00:10 hours

Sam stared through the clear plastic barrier at the five remaining prisoners. She had read their files several times, but had never taken the time to get to know them as she had Dave. Or, perhaps more accurately, she had never allowed herself to get to know them. Now, she let Dave introduce each prisoner to her in his own words.

"This is Marie," he said, pointing to the blonde middle-aged woman floating in stasis container five. "She's a doctor and has a maddening bedside manner. Sarcastic, yet sympathetic." He led Sam by the hand to the next container.

"Jackson is our pilot," he said, identifying the broad-shouldered man in container four. "He's a real softie, but he'll deny it of course." Sam smiled.

"Then there is Iris," he said, leading Sam to the young, dark-haired woman in stasis container three. "She's our navigator; a real soldier. She's the one you want beside you in a foxhole—not me." He continued further down the line.

"This is our little Hart," he said, pointing out the young man in container two. "He's the technical genius. I daresay we could've used him once or twice already." At last, they reached the final container.

"And, finally, there is Elsa," said Dave, coming to the peaceful woman in container one. "She's our Commander. She reminds me the most of you."

Sam studied the woman in container one with mild surprise. She was about her age, height, and build, but in her sleeping state, there was no way to detect any other similarities, nor the fact that she was the Commander. Yet it was clear that Dave was fond of her, despite one glaring discrepancy in his introduction.

"The files said you were the Commander," said Sam. Dave shook his head.

"I'm in charge of communications," he said modestly. "A glorified translator. Second in command." At Sam's look of confusion, he explained further. "It was a precaution in enemy territory to disguise the first in command."

Sam nodded, understanding. "So, you would be the one to speak for them?"

"Yes. Wherever we went, I would speak first, translate messages, and help negotiate."

"I chose wisely, then," said Sam. He smiled back at her, a sense of grateful anticipation on his face. He looked across the stasis containers at his five colleagues, his friends. Sam suddenly felt a gripping sense of anxiety. She had made the decision now to trust him; but somehow she'd imagined only the two of them moving forward. Waking these prisoners would open a whole new aspect of his life to her, as well as a whole new phase of the mission. There would be two "Commanders," two competing advisors, and five more crewmembers. Would she lose her control of the mission? Her influence over him?

Sam reminded herself that she never truly had either of these things. Outside events had influenced the mission, and her own choices were the only thing she'd ever had any control over. And she'd already made her choice to do this. Beyond that, everything else was out of her hands.

Almost everything.

Sam led Dave back to the control panel, which displayed the stasis readouts.

"To do this right, they have to wake slowly," she said. Dave nodded, paying close attention. "With you, I had no choice. Your vitals had already crashed by the time I reached you. Shock was the least of your worries. But, the safe procedure is a twelve-hour cycle, slowly stimulating the A1 receptor."

Dave looked at her with surprise. "That's cutting it close. We reach Externo in less than a day."

"Yes, but you and I can prep the landing module and pre-program most of the maneuvers while we wait. Otherwise, we'll spend just as much time making sure your crewmembers recover from the shock. You were paralyzed for the first hour, remember?"

"No."

"Exactly. Better to have them alert and mobile when it's time," said Sam. Dave nodded.

"Okay. So, what's next?"

Taking a deep breath, Sam opened the control panel, pressed the "wake" button, and entered her personal ID. Container five's wake light turned on.

"Commander?" interrupted Vox. "I must protest one final time."

"They're not free yet. I'm just authorizing their wake cycles," said Sam, continuing the process for the remaining prisoners. Their lights came on, but the stasis containers remained closed.

"What do you mean?" asked Dave.

"I must change my ID code every twelve hours, which means I'll need to do this again when they wake. And, unlike opening doors, prisoner release requires one final authorization," she said, holding up her thumb.

"Your thumbprint?" asked Dave.

Sam nodded, before raising her voice to Vox again. "So, you still have twelve hours to talk me out of it, Vox."

Entering her code one last time for Elsa, Sam closed the control panel and looked at the five prisoners, each with their wake light turned on. She then turned to Dave, who was watching her with a queer expression on his face. It was not relief or happiness. It was almost as if he shared her anxiety in seeing them wake again.

"Come on," she said, reaching out her hand. "Let's go to the control deck and prep the landing module."

This time, Dave didn't take her hand.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to sit here for awhile," he said. "Monitor things and... get to know them again."

"Sure, take your time," said Sam, curiously. "I'll be in control whenever you're ready."

As she turned to leave the prisoner observation deck, Dave called out after her.

"Thank you, Sam."

Sam nodded... and with a hint of trepidation... she left Dave alone with his crew.

****

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you so much for reading Prisoner Six! If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving a vote or comment below. I would love to hear from you! This week, I'm curious to know: Do you think Sam is doing the right thing by waking the remaining prisoners?