The Inner Ring (gxg)

Chapter 36

Pepper woke up in a panic, not remembering where she was for a moment. She was still in the capsule, but now the lid wasn't all lit up, only a single strip of lights on the edge was. She gripped that edge, and lifted it up, noticing that the lid slid up much easier. She felt refreshed, as though she had just gone to an expensive day spa. Her ribs no longer hurt, her body no longer trembled against the gravity, it was wonderful. Breathing deep, she stretched out, feeling her joints and muscles popping. Looking down at her watch, she realized she'd only been out for about 20 minutes, that was amazing!

Oh wait, no, the date was different. She'd been asleep just over a day!

Fuck!

Her belly growled, reminding her just how long she'd been without food, and her mood went from elated to depressed in the blink of an eye.

She rolled out of the bunk, prepared to stay on her hands and knees, but then realized she felt strong enough to stand. Tentatively, she gathered herself up, and then slowly tried to stand. She stood right up with no issues. It was like being back on earth on a normal day after getting out of bed. She glanced over at Miles' bed, and noticed the red light had become a group of lights in a line, all blinking red. On her bed, the line had turned a solid green. So, a status bar? She'd have to keep an eye on Miles, maybe this would make him feel as good as it did her? Had the bed rejuvenated her muscles somehow?

She walked gingerly out of the medical bay and back to the airlock. Anton's body still lay on the floor, but she dragged him into the medical bay after closing the inner airlock door. She didn't have to check his vitals but did so after taking off his suit anyway. His body was cold, and no pulse was detectable. She didn't want that to be the first thing Miles saw when he awoke, so she dragged him back out to the passageway before laying him down.

She was already used to walking about in the gravity, thanks to the bed, and took a few little hops with a smile on her face just because she could. Okay, let's go see if she could find a way to fly this thing! Part of her wanted to search for food, but as much as she would want to eat, finding something that could be thousands of years old didn't sound too appetizing. Instead, Pepper headed up to the bridge, taking in the sight.

It was much different than the other alien ship. The first thing she noticed was that much like the medical bay beds, and the desks in the classroom area, everything was human sized. But having seen so much of the Greek writing, that no longer shocked her. Also, where the other ship was all the same pale ceramic, this ship was all sleek and metallic, with large windows in all directions off the bridge, including the roof. Right now, she could look straight out, and see the interior of the massive ship, but that wouldn't matter if this one didn't fly.

There was a central chair on a small platform in the middle of the bridge, along with four chairs in a semicircle in front of it. She wasn't sure what stations each performed, but Pepper could guess the centermost one was the captain's chair. Looking over the other four chairs, two had yokes that were no doubt for the pilot and copilot, while the others had panels with more dials and knobs. The pilot chairs also had helmets on them, connected with thick silver cords to the center of the yokes. Those had to be navigation and such, but nothing nearly as complex as the other ship. Perhaps this smaller ship had consolidated more jobs into less people?

What could she do here? In movies, people could seemingly fly with no training, and some ground control person would walk through the landings. Piece of cake. Even kids could do it. In reality, it might not be that easy. She moved the helmet and sat in the left-hand pilot's chair, quite comfortable she noted, looked over the buttons. She had hoped that they would all be labeled clearly, but most had symbols or abbreviations. She noted that the top of the yoke had small covers over a pair of red buttons, one on each side.