A Way Away

Shara's breathing quickened as she saw the faint orange curve in the distant part of the hangar, a part she hadn't wandered into yet.

[System detects Lucky-I has triggered. Approximate time until trait resets- 42.7 hours.]

"System, how many points do I have?"

[Host has a balance of 1092 points. The subsystem initialization was 500 points.]

[Incoming transaction...Done!]

[Your daring in selection of an option that may have caused you more danger than the others has displayed your sense of ambition! You have been refunded your points, and congratulations!]

[New balance is 1592 points.]

"Well that's convenient."

After the points debacle, Shara sidled over to the orange glow, which, as expected, was a ship.

Well, more of a hull than a ship. But it looked airtight. Shara wondered what 15 thousand years without maintenance would have done to it. Looking it over, it was a lot larger than Shara had expected, probably about 150 meters long. Shara didn't know how to fix it, but damn it, she was going to learn. After nearing the vessel, she noticed that there were many crates nearby, and, after prying one open, they appeared to be full of spare parts! However, without the knowledge of how to install them and where, Shara was still stranded. Either way, she needed to find a way into the vessel, and she doubted breaking a airtight seal by beating her way in was a good idea.

"Shara, I think there might be another solution to the issue we're having at the moment." Valkyr chimed. "We still have a batch of people frozen on ice, and we never got a full roster of them or their specialties. I do believe one was a cryogenics engineer. Maybe we can thaw him out first, see if they're even able to be drawn out of suspension."

As much as Shara hated to stay any longer, Valkyr was right. Any help that they could get from the abandoned facility would help them accomplish the goal of getting off the barren planet they were currently on.

As such, the idea of taking some help out of the deep freezer did seem attractive, especially if they could maybe get the base semi-operational!

If they could manage that, then it wouldn't be so critical to get off-world as quickly, and would give them time to repair the vessel she had found! Besides, the meager amount of food she had brought into the base with her didn't matter much if she could use the system!

Thinking quickly, Shara opened up the system's interface and brought up the points store, specifically the consumables. Navigating to the food and supplies section, she found a bundle of food rations and drinks as well, running her a measly 50 points! The amount would easily last for a month or more, especially if she was careful with her rationing.

Shara quickly returned to the pressurized, heated, semi-comfort of the airlock. After a momentary cycling of the atmosphere, she brought the system's GUI up again.

"Hmm. The options have their benefits too. I could choose to move up into one of the better tiers of supply bundles. That would net me some basic medical supplies as well." Shara thought. "But right now, I think we should see if we can get those people unthawed. That will change the decision I make about this."

Walking out of the airlock and into the rest of the research station, Shara quickly managed to reach the until-recently abandoned cryogenics bay that housed the cryogenics technician. She shivered, not because of the temperature of the room, her armor took care of that, but the idea of cryogenics. While it was a normal part of spaceflight that escape pods and other emergency vessels might cryogenically suspend someone, it was another thing to be under it. Her recent foray into suspension herself added to the feeling, although it was several days ago now. To her, it seemed like the cold was still seeping out of her bones.

"Valkyr, do you have a dossier of who's all in these pods?"

"I do. The cryogenics engineer who you are looking for, his name is Linwood Rosek."

"Great. Now to find him."

Luckily, the cryogenics bay was localized enough that she only had to search one floor. Upon coming across his pod, she pulled up the holographic ID she had been using to pinpoint persons of interest.

"He's a human male, roughly 35 in age. Red hair. Seems to be our guy." Shara said to herself. Carefully, she began the override procedures. With as little as she knew about Makoni tech, she knew that her patience and diligence would be the means to the end she desired.

Rushing would only induce complications.

After about half an hour, Shara's efforts paid off. The pod opened, revealing a somewhat overweight man with a shock of red hair. The thin jumpsuit he wore over his body during his cryogenic slumber clung to him wetly. Shivering, Linwood slowly slumped out of the pod into Shara's waiting arms.

"Who… who are you?"

"A friend."

"That doesn't…explain much…"

"It's a long story."

"I expect it to be."

Linwood extricated himself from Shara's supporting form, then leaned over and dry heaved a couple of time into a nearby sink. After a couple more minutes, he managed to get most of the cryogenic protectant out of his system.

"Okay. Let's talk."

"You're still unsteady. Here. Eat this."

Shara passed him a rather bland version of the survival meals she had taken from the pod. Hopefully it would get some nutrition back into the poor soul.

The man examined the package with interest. He seemed to take in all of the strange occurrences he had been subjected to lately.

He seemed to be grieving? Yes. Shara knew that people in cryosleep often had issues to deal with upon coming out, especially if they had gotten in with the expectation of not getting back out. Some things were better just left to time.