The Lost Ones

Chapter one

The room was completely dark when Jason jolted awake. He sat up, hand rummaging for the light switch that was by his bed but to no avail. He turned around, peering through the darkness to find that he wasn't in his bedroom. Jason stood up, stumbling across the room and to the window, seeing nothing except the void of space littered with bright glowing stars. Where in the world, well more like galaxy, was he?

Suddenly the ship hummed to life, the lights turning on around him. "Greetings Captain Jason." a clear robotic female voice greeted him.

Jason froze, startled by the voice. He swung around to look around the room, yup it definitely wasn't the one he fell asleep in. He did have to admit that it was nice though. He glanced up at the ceiling. "Um.. hello?" He called "Captain...?" He murmured to himself.

"Did you sleep well, Captain?" the voice asked.

"I guess?" Jason responded. He had actually slept pretty well, the fact that he was in a different bed was what weirded him out.

"Your emotional wavelength tells me you are confused. What can I do to help you, Captain?" She asked politely.

"Where... am I?" He asked. "This isn't the same place I fell asleep in." He was a bit taken aback from the voice's ability to read his emotions.

"You are aboard the Starship Universe." She replied. She didn't explain why he wasn't where he fell asleep.

"Starship?" Jason paused, looking back at the stars outside. "Am I in.. space?"

"Yes, Captain."

Jason took off his cap and ran his hand through his hair, realizing for the first time that he was still dressed in his clothes and not in pajamas. Millions of questions began to race through his head, many which couldn't be answered.

"Captain, you appear to be distressed. I suggest a couple of breathing exercises and I can play some soothing music."

Jason thought about that advice for a second before looking up at the ceiling. "Maybe later but first.. how did I get here?"

"What do you mean Captain? You have been traveling on this starship for about a year now." she answered.

"What? I was in my room just last night..." Jason's voice trailed off. Was he dreaming? He pinched a small part of his cheek, nope definitely not. He turned around and went back to the bed, flopping onto his back and looking up at the ceiling. "Um... who are you? My conscious or something?"

The voice laughed. It sounded musical. "No, Captain. I am STELLA. The ships AI system." she answered.

A small smile began to appear on Jason's face. At least he wasn't alone in a sense. "So Stella, if I've been here for a while why can I ever remember being here?"

"I do not know, Captain. I can run some scans if you wish to see if you are being affected by something."

"Sure." Jason shrugged, still lying on the bed.

There was a silence before a musical note pinged. "Scan complete. You seem to be in perfect health, Captain. Perhaps you have memory loss? Did you hit your head or anything of the sort recently?"

"I don't think so...." Jason frowned. "Maybe I did... I don't know." He covered his face with his hands.

"Perhaps it is the effects of suspended animation sleep system. We have been travelling for a long time and you just now really woke up. You had been in and out for a while though."

"I guess..." he sighed. At this point it was just best to believe everything that the ship told him. He stood up and looked around the room, noticing a large iron door at the end