Danger in the Dark

WHO: Alfredo Gomez
WHERE: Stasis Booth #0599
WHEN: Three Million Years Later...

<Snip>
But none of this meant anything when Davie Jones was woken up 3 million years later by a bloody face being pressed up against his window yelling for help, and then being snatched away quickly.
<End Snip>

The bright green 'EXIT' sign flashed into life and Gomez heard the hydraulic lock of the stasis booth door unlock itself. Even though it felt like he'd been in the booth for about ten seconds, he knew enough about them to know that was how a stasis field worked - the person being subjected to stasis was completely unaware of the mindbogglingly complicated scientific procedure they had just been subjected to.

Stepping out into the corridor, Gomez noticed that only a few of the stasis booths were opened - maybe half a dozen or so - and the crew within, who seemed to be mostly security guards, were stepping out and looking around in confusion with him.

"Excuse me, senor, but what ees is going on? why have we been released and the others they have not?" Gomez asked one of the guards

"standard security procedure, mate" replied the guard in what Gomez recognised as a thick cockney accent, "we're awakened about an hour or so before the rest of the crew to make sure everything is just cushty before we unfreeze the important people. If it's dangerous out here, we don't want all the officers getting eaten by a monster or being subjected to lethal levels of radiation, do we?"

"Si, senor, but why have I been released? I am not a security guard"

"Nah, but your booth belonged to Lennox. He was killed in the battle."

Gomez looked around. For a ship that was supposed to have been repaired by the skutters and service robots, the ship did seem to be pretty dark. And quiet. Gomez walked over to the guard and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Senor, have you noticed something?"

"What?"

"The sheep, she is not moving. The engines, they are dead"

"So they are, mate, good spotting." said the guard, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Tell you what, there's a bank of computer consoles down that end of the corridor. Why don't you head down and check them out for us? You're the only one here who can make any sense of all that technical jargon it spouts, so maybe you can tell us if the ship is ok."

"I will do so, senor, I will be back momentarily" said Gomez, knocking off a quick salute to the man before turning to walk away.

"Oi, wait up" said the older guard. He handed Gomez a small laser pistol and looked him in the eye.

"Just in case, y'know."

"Te doy gracias por el regalo" replied Gomez, before strolling off down the corridor, his new gun in hand.

A few minutes later, Gomez arrived at the console and begun the boot up sequence. He noticed that the place was covered in a fine layer of dust and had been left practically untouched since the crew had entered stasis - there was still a half drunk cup of coffee and a few cigarette butts left in an ashtray next to the keyboard. Where were the robots? Surely they must have noticed movement along the stasis deck by now and have at least made their presence known. Things weren't making sense at all.

Looking over the computer readout, Gomez began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach. The information scrolling past his eyes confirmed his suspicions - Blue Dwarf was not moving and the engines had been dead for some time now. A few months or so, a year at best. Holly was reluctant to give him any proper details on how long they'd been asleep until the rest of the crew were awakened. Gomez was even more worried that the life support systems were running on the lowest settings, with the majority of the ships power being redirected to the command decks, and whole sections of the ship had been depowered and depressurized. What for?

"You found anything yet?" came a voice from behind Gomez that made him jump. It was the cockney guard who'd given him the gun.

"Icaramba! You scared me, senor!"

"Sorry mate, didn't mean to" he smiled apologetically "you found anything out yet?"

"Not much, my friend, the sheep's engines are dead and much of life support is gone. Also, much power seems to be redirected to the bridge. This is not good, I think...", but Gomez was cut off by a sickening crunching noise behind him. Turning around, he noticed the guard he'd befriended was suddenly missing most of his head.

"Jesus, Maria y Jose!" Gomez cried out, looking for the person who had mutilated his new friend. He got it in the form of a claw smacking into his head and throwing him against a bulkhead. Gomez knew that his boxing talents would be of little use against a beast that owned such a claw, but he tried anyway. Though he landed several punches, the shadowy creature - of whom he could barely make out in the dim lighting of the corridor - continued to beat his face to a bloody mess before chasing Gomez down the corridor. Breathless, and with a face full of blood and broken teeth, he threw himself against the glass of a stasis booth and banged to get the attention of the awakening man inside, who looked at him groggily.

"Socórrame! Socórrame! Por favor, ayúdame!" he managed to scream at the confused looking man, before something grabbed him by the neck and it all went black.

<TAG: Who or what has kidnapped Gomez? Will anyone be able to save him in time?>