Poignant Skies

Awakening

The Novus Alpha Space Station hovers above its namesake planet. Fifteen astronauts and scientists man the station. It used to be a primary space dock for ships from Earth. Now it is a scientific space facility where Novans gather data and further observe their inhabited planet.

Some of the crew were just about to have their meal. Commander Galen was counting the days until he can go back to Novus ground and have a fresh meal. He was just about to have his first bite when the anunciator suddenly called for him. It was officer Jan from the commanding deck.

"Commander Galen, you are requested at the deck immediately."

"What is it this time?" Galen said as he placed down his bowl of sloppy oatmeal and dry nuts.

"He sounded worried." Dr. Helga said.

"He is always worried when he's in charge of the deck." He replied. The crew laughed at his remark. "I'll be back."

When Galen reached the deck, Jan and another scientist, Dr. Kurt, were arguing about something in the monitoring screen of the space radar.

"What is it Jan?"

"Commander I..."

"There's a lifepod 17km away from us." Dr. Kurt said before Jan could finish.

"What?" Galen could not believe what he just heard. "A lifepod you say?"

"I told him already that it was impossible." Jan said. "It could just be loose cargo from previous spaceship wrecks."

"Why would you say it's a lifepod?" Galen asked Dr. Kurt.

"The shape in the monitor is distinctively that of a lifepod." He said as he showed him the pen-like shape of the moving item in the monitor.

"Is it emitting any frequency similar to that of a lifepod?"

"I've been getting a faint signal but nothing conclusive about it. I already requested the cameras to be readjusted to its location to verify." Then a beep startled all of them. "Here we have an image."

Dr. Kurt projected the image to the screen. They were all silent for a moment.

"It is... a lifepod." Commander Galen was astounded for a moment. He looked at Jan who was in disbelief as well. "Call for captain Elis and have him retrieve the pod."

"Yes sir."

"You know how to open a pod Dr. Kurt?"

"Are we opening it here in the space station?"

"If it carries a virus or anything, it's best that we isolate it here. We will use the lab 3 near the dock."

"Very well then."

All fourteen crew gathered around the dock. Captain Elis came back with the pod after an hour of retrieval operation. Two of the other officers took the pod into the lab 3 where Dr. Kurt was waiting. He was suited up for all sorts of protection.

As the lab was airlocked, commander Galen and his team stood behind the small glass window of the lab.

Dr. Kurt connected his control pad to the pod's electronic system to open it. After running a sequence, the pod popped open as if a metal door had snapped.

"Pod's name is Exodus 58. It is a generation 5 lifepod that has been floating around since..." he gasped in disbelief. "...since year 245!" He couldn't believe it. It has been in space for 250 years.

It was a pretty huge lifepod, bigger than the ones previously collected in space. Dr. Kurt proceeded with caution as he went to see its cargo. Galen and the others were quite anxious with what they might find.

"Commander Galen." Dr. Kurt said. "It's a woman."

"Is she alive?"

Dr. Kurt touched the screen of the woman's capsule. She has been in hibernation for 250 years. He doesn't know if her vitals are stable or if she is alive at all. As the pod's operating system tried to recover from sleep, the capsule suddenly popped open.

"Why did you open it already?!" Galen exclaimed from behind the glass door.

"I didn't!" Dr. Kurt quickly took the medical screening tool to check the condition of the woman and if there is any medical threat from her or the pod.

As he was checking, she suddenly woke up. She tried to get up but started to vomit on the side.

"Oh no, she has a virus." Jan said.

Dr. Kurt didn't react for a moment and waited for the scan to finish. "She's clear!"

"She's vomiting as a side effect of long term hibernation." Dr. Helga said. She opened the lab and went to help Dr. Kurt. She gave her some injectable stabilizers and the unknown woman relaxed.

Dr. Kurt looked at the woman. She was pale and cold. "How could she be alive all these years?"

"We cannot be sure how or why Dr. Kurt." Dr. Helga said. "For all we know, she could be the last human from earth."