Prisoner Six

Part 14

Sam bolted to her feet, her mind racing. Somehow, Dave must have taken her to the prisoner observation deck as she slept. But why? And where had he gone? Doubt seized her, but she pushed it back.

"Dave?" she called out into the cold, dark prisoner deck. "Dave!"

Her voice bounced off of the metal walls. But, there was no answer.

There had to be a rational explanation, Sam told herself. Perhaps there had been a malfunction during the wake cycle. Or an unforseen problem in the landing module. Had the power transfer gone awry? Shivering, Sam noticed a foil blanket left behind for her. She wrapped it around herself as her breath fogged the air.

The air...

The buzzing...

Sam's heart sank as she recognized the sound. It was a life support warning. Transferring power to the lander had turned off much of Externo's life support. The little oxygen and air pressure that remained was rapidly fading. She needed to get to an EVA suit and find out what was happening. Fast.

"Vox?" she asked, before remembering stupidly that she had shut the assistant down. "Damnit."

Without Vox, there was no way to access the main computer, unless she was physically present in the only remaining hub of power: the landing module. Doubt buzzed louder in her mind, fighting for recognition against the ship's life support warning.

Sam ignored it, focusing on the next clear steps instead.

Her breath rasped, crystalizing almost instantly in the sub-zero air. Should she get to a suit first? Hypothermia was a real danger. Perhaps not... getting to the suit hangar would require backtracking around the wheel to another spoke. She may not have time. Best to go to the landing module instead, where all would be explained.

Pushing through the now-open quarantine barrier, Sam walked past the empty stasis containers to climb up the prisoner spoke-which led directly to the lander-only to find the spoke locked shut. She typed in her ID code, but it was rejected.

Sam's mind reeled in confusion. Then, she remembered: protocol. The main computer must've required a new code at the end of the twelve-hour cycle. Trouble is, to choose that code; her old code and thumbprint were needed first. But how-?

Sam knew how, but she couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it.

Swearing under her breath, Sam turned to leave the prisoner observation deck, when a small, blinking light caught her attention. It was a "standby" power indicator... on stasis container six.

Impossible...

Backing away from the container, Sam abandoned the prisoner observation deck and continued around the wheel, desperate to reach the next spoke. Her strength fading, she stumbled to the med lab and climbed the ladder. To her relief, she found the spoke was open. At last, Sam reached neutral buoyancy, making the journey easier as she was able to climb with less effort towards her destination-the suit hangar. The faint buzz of the life support warning reminded Sam that she was critically low on oxygen. No matter. She would soon be in a suit and on her way to the lander.

Just then, an intense darkness fell across the spoke. Not from the ship's lights, but from the porthole ahead. The unexpected play of light and shadow startled Sam. It meant the ship was alarmingly close to a large object.

Sam pulled herself towards the porthole, knowing what she would see, but needing to see it just the same. She was right-the ship had just passed into the shadow of the Externo asteroid. If Dave and the crew were already in the lander, the slingshot maneuver to undock would be underway. Which meant only one thing:

Sam was out of time.

Turning the corner, Sam floated out of the spoke and into the suit hangar. She threw open her locker and blinked against the sight, disbelieving.

The suit locker was empty. The prisoners had taken the EVA suits. All of them.

Anger and panic rising, Sam turned and pulled herself towards the central airlocks-all concern for quarantine abandoned. Reaching the prisoner airlock for the landing module, she felt her first wave of relief. There, through the porthole, she could see the opposite hatch to the lander was open. It had not yet detached. She entered her old code into the control panel and was predictably locked out. But she wasn't hoping to open the airlock; she was hoping to alert those inside of her presence.

If anyone was inside. After all, if the prisoners were abandoning her, why hadn't they already detached? Had someone on the crew gone mad from shock? Were the others subdued or injured? Increasingly fantastic ideas filled Sam's mind as she slammed her fist against the porthole.

"Open the door!" she yelled.

Just then, a woman slid into view in front of the porthole. Sam knew the face well, but had never seen her features awake, nor her eyes open. It was prisoner number one: Elsa. The hardened Commander's expression was alert... and cold.

"Number on-Elsa..." said Sam haltingly, "I'm the Commander of Externo; my name is Sam. Open the hatch so we can talk, please-hey, no, no, no!"

Elsa did not wait for Sam to complete her introductions. Her eyes widened, and she immediately drew back into the lander. Frantic, Sam entered her old code again. She then tried the code before that, and the code before that. Nothing. At last, she looked up to see Dave approaching the airlock.

"Dave!" she cried in relief. "Let me in."

He rushed towards the airlock with an air of urgency and punched in a code. But nothing happened. He said something, but Sam couldn't hear him through the porthole. She motioned to her ears.

"Turn on the intercom!" she said. He gave her a helpless gesture in return, "I can't." He then tried to open the airlock with physical force, but Sam knew that was hopeless. He put his hand to the porthole, looking anguished and confused.

"What's going on?" he mouthed.

Sam looked around her, to the camera above the airlock. The camera that followed her every move.

What the hell?

Only the lander should have power now. Nothing automated should be working on the control module, on standby or otherwise. Not the camera, and certainly not stasis container six. If Dave hadn't re-routed the power, only one thing could...

"Vox?" said Sam softly, waiting.

What if her computer assistant had not been assisting her at all? What if Vox had been the true 'Commander' of the ship, engineering the malfunctions and power anomalies on Externo all along? At stasis container six... in PC2... and here at the airlock as well? What if it had been trying to get rid of Sam and the prisoners in order to complete the mission? If so, there was no way it had powered down.

"Vox," she repeated. "If you're on standby-if you've re-routed any power to the control module-talk to me."

The life support warning buzzed faintly, followed by a familiar sound:

"Yes... Commander."