Ancient Astronauts

She's Awake

Alyonna's eyes flickered open. She panicked for a moment when she couldn't move her body. Then the blinking green light above her head both reminded her where she was and that this was a standard wake cycle. The ship was not in danger. They had probably just stopped to refuel from one of the dummy tankers NASA had thrown out here in preparation for the mission.

Slowly, feeling returned and she got her bearings. A nurse appeared by her, and helped her wrangle uncooperative limbs into a standard issue passenger jumper. The nurse then pointed her to a facility to clean up.

"Where is Hans?" She asked the nurse before leaving.

"Who?" The nurse, a young man in his twenties, asked.

Alyonna rolled her eyes like he was a dummy, but she figured he'd also just woken up, "Captain Hans Agler, US Navy Admiral, HERO of the Battle for Yanjing and countless other accolades," she said. "The commander of this ship."

"I don't mean to frighten you ma'am. Everything on the ship is in order, but I'm afraid Captain Agler is in the ECR. He was badly burned in an electrical fire on the bridge five years ago and had to be put in medical cryo. First Mate Tyrone Hunter is in command."

"Ma'am?" The nurse asked, alarmed, as Alyonna sat back down on her cryo bed, chest heaving.

The nurse took her hand to offer support and checked her eyes and pulse, offering useless reassurances all the while, "I'm sorry ma'am. I know how distressing it must be to hear about the captain."

"Stupid boy," Alyonna thought, but corrected herself. He was just doing his job and following his training. Out loud she begged, "Please, take me to him."

Peter Halberd was a bit taken aback, then replied, "I can't do that ma'am, he's in emergency cryo. No one but authorized medical personnel are allowed back there."

"Take me! To him!" Alyonna was on her feet.

She barely felt the needle break her skin before slumping into unconsciousness.

When she came to, Peter was standing by her bed. But it wasn't her cryo bed. The large red cross symbol on the far wall showed her it was the medical bay.

"Who is he to you?" Peter asked, clearly having exhausted his training and started using his brain...and empathy.

"He's my fiance," she whispered.

Peter took a step back and appeared lost in thought.

A voice came over the loudspeaker, "All non essential personnel and passengers are to report back to their cryo pods. Fueling is completed and the Astral Ark will resume its journey toward Proxima-B in three hours."

"You have time," Peter whispered, quickly undoing the straps holding her to the bed. "Follow me while they're all distracted."

Peter led her down a hallway emptying of medical personnel and passengers who had completed their standard medical check up. Coming to a door at the end of the hall, he pulled on a cloak that was hanging by the doorway and wrapped Alyonna in another. He waved his badge by the keypad and tapped in a code.

It was cold inside the Emergency Cryo Room. Hans was laying on two pallets because one was too small for him. Tubes and nodes covered him. Half his body was covered in burns that glistened with healing ointments.

"He was worse fifteen years ago," Peter whispered, "Recovery is slow since his bodily functions are slowed down so much, but the doctors think he has a good chance, especially once we wake his body and get the full medical facility set up. Please, refrain from touching him." 

He squeezed her hand comfortingly then stepped back to the door to give her space.

Images flashed through Alyonna's mind, Hans when they first met, roundish, shy, and extremely apologetic. Hans as he was when they left, a mountain in any room he walked through, his blonde hair cut short and smart, inexorably advancing toward his goal, yet gently weaving around children and always somewhere behind his eyes, a little shy.

Choking back a sob and holding back her hair, Alyonna leaned down to Hans' ear and whispered, "I wanted to wait till we got to Proxima-B to share this with you because I didn't want you distracted, worrying about me five decks below." She paused, then whispered urgently, "Hans, baby, I'm pregnant."

She knew she couldn't touch him. She wanted to hold his hand, but instead just poured the emotion into her voice, "Baby, please, hold on for us."

A silly thought entered her mind and she couldn't help breaking out in a little smile. A tear ran over her top lip striking her tongue with the bittersweet taste of salt. "And look at it like this. This way, you'll be forty-eight and I'll be twenty-eight. That's not so bad a spread. You'll get to see your kid grow up, and teach him to master a brave new world."

Alyonna lingered for a while, but the alert from the ship's onboard AI reminded her she needed to get back in cryo before the ship started moving.

Peter was still standing by the door, keeping his eyes respectfully on the floor. Alyonna headed for the door, but paused for a moment, "Thank you for helping me, Peter."

Peter nodded uncomfortably, "Of course. I think it's what Hans would have done were any of his crew in this position."

"It is," she whispered, "Can I ask for one more favor?"

Peter shifted uncomfortably. He was already in deep deep doo doo for this, but then he shrugged, asking himself what was wrong with a little more shit when you're already covered in it, "How can I help you?"

"Don't wake me up again until either he's awake or we've reached Proxima-B. There isn't a soul on this ship I care to spend time with except him."

"No problem. Other than that, you'll only be woken if there's an emergency."

"Thank you, Peter."