had reached that level. Why then did she feel like she’d been run over by a military grade space frigate?
The ache in her body refused to abate, but the sharper pains faded into a numb background as Kira slowly checked on the rest of the tubes. They were at varying stages of recovery, with Tarn being the next closest to reaching the threshold. She had no idea how long it might take, but he only had five more points on the computer derived scale of wellness remaining. It could mean hours or days, for all she knew.
Kira staggered to a couch in the room and lowered herself carefully to it. The padding was thin and even sitting on it caused a puff of dust to arise. Nevertheless it felt heavenly to her. Before she knew it she had slid down further and fell asleep, succumbing to the exhaustion that claimed her.
Kira awoke to an insistent chime. She jolted her head up, looking around, and instantly regretted it. Pain blossomed in her mind, a holdover from the condition her body was in and the residual effects the drugs in her body had caused. She sat up, feeling certain she was going to be sick again, but several deep breaths allowed her to regain control of herself. She glanced around, finding a display and wondering how long she’d slept. She couldn’t remember noticing it before she’d fallen asleep, so it could have been minutes or hours.
The chime persisted, drawing a breathy groan from her. She warily climbed to her feet, startling herself at how cool the metal floor felt on her naked soles. That had to be a good sign, it meant her core temperature had risen.
After a few experimental steps she found her footing more stable. She glanced back at the closed sleeping tubes of the others then nodded to herself. Even if she could wake them up it would be hours, at best, before they would be able to do anything. More likely days if they felt like she had. She gathered herself together and set off through the ship. It wasn’t until she reached the bridge and moved to her station that she realized she had yet to think of putting any clothing on. She shrugged it away, the ship’s climate control system had adjusted the temperature to accommodate them before they awoke. The floor might be cool but at least there was no danger of her freezing.
She read the displays slowly, refocusing as she grew distracted. He stomach twisted, as though she needed a reminder that she was at or beyond starvation-level-hungry. “Soon,” she promised herself, though the simple words exiting her throat made her fear how painful eating would be.
Doubling her efforts, she studied the map of solar system, looking for opportunities. The ring of broken rock that rimmed the system was unusually dense, but not so much that she could not easily plot a course through it. She tested a few routes, judging that the minimal fuel usage would come from making minor corrections in the field, rather than trying to boost the ship above or below the central thickness of it.
She put in further instructions into the nav system, causing a slightly longer burn that would put the ship on an intercept course for a planet that preliminary sensor scans showed to be unusual. The modified mining sensors returned strange readings from it. The usual combination of metals and elements, but it also appeared to possess an unusual amount of water. Water in a liquid form, rather than frozen or gaseous.
Kira stood up too quickly, one hamstring cramping and her vision tinting dark as the blood failed to rise with her. She barely managed to fall back to her seat, crying out as she did so. She rubbed and stretched her leg, working the cramp out, then swallowed in an attempt to put out the fiery patch in her throat. More carefully this time, she rose up slowly with her hands on her station.
Vertical once more, she let out a faint smile at her triumph, then turned to head out of the bridge. She paused on the way, her fingers idly resting on the arm of the Captain’s chair. She glanced around as quick as her neck allowed, then sat down in Captain Sharp’s chair. She settled into it, an arm on each rest, then leaned back in it and enjoyed the unfamiliar comfort. From there she could see the entirety of the bridge, including the displays at each station.
“ I could get used to this,” she whispered, then enjoyed another quiet moment of reflection before feeling as though a knife speared through her intestines and twisted into her kidneys. She growled against the pain and rose up, slowly. “Fine, I’ll feed you,” she muttered, hobbling out of the bridge and towards the galley.
Years of dust and misuse covered everything in the galley. Even coaxing water from the faucet took minutes rather than seconds. The initial water seemed discolored as well, though she knew the ship’s automated systems would have stirred the potable water tanks, applying chemicals necessary to purify them. Nonetheless, she let the water cycle for several minutes before she dared to rinse out a cup and then fill it.
The feel of the water on her lips was beyond description to her. It was cool but it stung as it reached into cracks in her lips that she had grown accustomed to. The first bite of stretched and aggravated tissue in her throat soothed with each gentle swallow. It was only through supreme force of will that she stopped herself after only a few small swallows. Just in time, fresh chaos within her stomach made her knees buckle. Only by grabbed on to the counter and slamming her legs into the panel beneath it did she keep from falling.
Several minutes of fighting the seemingly shark-skinned monster in her belly passed in what Kira was sure took at least a lifetime. Finally she was able to pick her head up enough to see that her cup had somehow been thrown across the counter, spilling the precious water within it. The last thing she wanted to see at that point was more water, but she also knew it was exactly what she needed.
She gathered another cup, rinsed it out, then tried to drink again. The results were similar, though not quite as debilitating. If water was that hard to get down, how would she ever be able to stomach the solid food she really needed? Kira fought the tears of desperation that threatened to blind her. She looked around, blinking rapidly and sniffing just as rapidly to keep her nose from running. She was a mess. Why couldn’t Eric have woken up before her and taken care of her? Even the Captain would have been a welcomed helping hand. Tarn — no, okay, not Tarn. Jeff had given her some hungry looks too, so she didn’t think being this weak and alone with him while the others slept was a good idea either.
Kira glanced down at her deflated body and almost felt the urge to chuckle. She’d have trouble getting a man who’d spent the last twenty years in prison to find her attractive. She pushed the thought aside and looked around again at the appliances. Her eyes fell on the powdered protein dispenser, then the flavor packets beside it. She glanced back at the sink, wondering how disgusting it would be to try and drink a protein soup.
Kira gasped, which caused her throat to constrict in momentary pain. She didn’t need a soup, she needed a shake! She turned to another machine and punched in commands on the old fashioned button-style interface, then poured some protein powder into her empty cup. She grabbed up two chocolate flavor packets and, after nipping them with her teeth to help her open them, she dumped them in as well. Moving as quickly as she could she slipped the cup under the dispenser and waited impatiently for the ready indicator to light up. As soon as it did she pressed the dispensing button and watched the mixture of hot water and synfeine pour into her cup.
Ignoring the heat, Kira stuck her finger in the cup and started to swirl it around. She hissed after a minute, pulling her scalded finger out and quickly stuck it in her mouth. The flavors burst across her tongue like an explosion, shocking her with their intensity at first, and then making her suck on her finger harder. She realized a moment later what she was doing and managed a snicker at her behavior. She gently blew on the steaming liquid and then sipped it carefully.
It burned her lips and tongue, but in spite of that it tasted delicious. She swallowed carefully, feeling the warmth spreading down her throat and into her belly and soothing her. In spite of her trepidations, her stomach opted to behave this time around. She sipped again, repeating the experience and fighting the urge to guzzle the drink.
Kira moved carefully to the table and sat down, holding the cup between her hands and feeling the warmth leaking through it. She drank sparingly, wondering how she could have disliked the taste before. Then again, considering the state her body was in she would have probably found just about anything organic to taste delicious. She pushed the thought away before her mind could chase it down some of the more disturbing paths it could take.
Before she knew it the cup was empty. She stared into it, wanting more but knowing better. Her stomach felt bloated and uncomfortably full as it was. Her jaw stretched as she yawned, which turned into a grimace as sore tissue was stretched. She climbed to her feet and made her way back to the bridge, this time settling into the Captain’s chair without a second thought.
Kira pressed her data port into the one built into the arm rest of the Captain’s chair. She routed output to the main display instead of the fold out one that was part of the chair and proceeded to check on her crewmates. Little had changed, aside from nominal increases in the computer designated health scores. She sighed upon noting that Tarn was still going to be the first to awaken, then dug deeper into the new solar system. If she truly was the first human to set eyes on it, she wondered if she could name it. She smirked. The Kiran system had a nice ring to
