Dreams were such a fickle thing. Especially for someone that had been asleep for... how long had it been? In here there was no concept of time. It was all just one big obscure ball that never seemed to end. Matthew dreamed of his past. Something that he had always wanted to run and forget. He worked so hard to forget, so hard, but in the end there was no running from yourself. Out here in this expanse of time and space there was no running. It would catch up eventually, and little did he know how hard it would hit him once the pod opened. Would it ever open? You let her down? You let everyone down? You are useless. You are nothing. Everyone that you ever loved is gone. They don't want to be here.. with you. They are gone for a reason. Stop! Stop doing this to me. Why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? I tried so hard. I couldn't... there was nothing... I couldn't stop their deaths. Oh God, it's my fault, isn't it? They're gone because I couldn't stop them. They were taken from me and I couldn't stop them leaving. I am guilty. Please God, please. Let me break from these chains. Let me live! I want to live. I can't fight this forever, I know you are out there, I can feel you out there, watching. Haven't I been through enough? I need to let..



Matthew's eyes began to flutter inside his pod beneath his closed eyelids. Go. It's time for me to try and protect those still aboard this ship. Somewhere in the distance the ship began to shake causing slight shutters throughout the bulkhead. It permeated down the hallways and inside the farthest unexplored rooms, through more empty darkened halls, through empty rooms, through more hallways, through the cafeteria that was once bustling with the crew, and finally stopped in front of his pod. He could feel an entity watching him through the narrow slit of his metallic pod. God? Is that you? Please let me out. I need to fight this. I need to fight for the people on this ship. They need me. I need to go. Fight forever. Fight. No giving up. I can't. I am so sorry. The entity seemed to linger a bit more in front of his pod. Then it moved. And it was gone. No! Where are you going? I need... please come back. I need you to help me. Please God. Please. GODAMNIT. You are worthless, you know that? Always watching from your damn cloud and never answering peoples prayers. People need your good graces and you just.. for the love of everything. Please. What about these people? There are so many out there. When are you going to just be the God that people need you to be and just stop handing out life lessons. We understand. We are flawed, we are human, useless.





The pod began to hiss as steam rose up from the crevasses and the cooling unit. Then everything went black. In the few moments that led up to the bed being defrosted, the only thing that Matthew saw was a face. It was clear and precise, it's edges were crisp and clear, but he could not put a name to the face. In fact the face was almost featureless. Matthew opened his eyes and felt himself abruptly place both hands on the glass viewport feeling the heat beginning to rise and thaw him out which coated the glass with steam. He grunted as he felt his senses returning to him. He placed his head back against the cushion that lined the back of the pod and he closed his eyes, squinting them shut, in a hopeless effort to shake off the cobwebs of his motor functions. "Jesus H. Christ." was the only thing that he could say. He still didn't where he was or what was happening. But the feeling of waking up from cryosleep something that he had never done before was all too intense for him. He felt the place where his hands were pressed against disappear and found himself falling forward. He landed on his hands and knees, hunched over and coughing until it felt like has going to hurl. It wasn't until he began to dry heave that he managed to sit on his haunches, keeping his hands in his lap. He took a breath and looked around carefully.



So many pods. He began to draw in breath, slow and steady. One, two, three, too many. Best to see who had woken up, people woke up right? Oh God, what if I am alone? He slapped the side of his head. Stop. Don't do that now. Be calm. He helped himself up slowly. He placed his hand just under his nose, Christ I feel nauseous. As he walked past the pods not daring himself to look inside, he noticed that two were empty, and it momentarily filled him with joy. Then he began to recall how many were left empty before they went to sleep. There... were.... Young, Chloe, Rush, Greer, the civilian Wray, Jesus what's happening, Tamara, Greer, oh my god Eli. Matthew began to walk faster with each careful nimble step, and the further he went down the row the more his function came back. Soon enough he was half-running. He came upon the last pod. He drew in a breath as he turned the viewport and drew in another as he almost hesitantly came into view. He had no love for the kid, in fact he thought the kid was just flat out weird, but when he saw Eli's face, the joy that he felt flood his soul was nothing comparable to anything he felt before. He let out a sound that almost sounded like a half-cry and half-laugh. He placed his hand flat against the glass and hung his head. Oh, Eli.



He stood there for a few solid moments letting his energy be renewed by Eli's presence, even if he was asleep in his pod. He let out a breath and looked up towards the control room. He took his hand away and took a few steps towards the control room getting a strong feeling.. he couldn't place it. Something felt familiar and he felt drawn to whatever was in the control room. He looked back into the pod room. Two were still empty. He returned his gaze ahead. He drew closer on the control room. He turned a corner and slid closer to the door. Then he felt his heart drop. "Tamara? Dr. Rush! You guys are okay, you don't know how happy I am to see you. What happened with the other pods? Where are we? he felt a slew of questions begin to take hold. He wanted to ask about the Colonel but he already had the answer to that. For now he had forgotten about the dream, the entity, the face, for the most part he was just so happy to see some people awake.

As he entered the room Matthew glanced around at the computers and other consoles. It was good to see Rush running diagnostics. Maybe the rest of the crew would wake soon. That would be good. It would be nice to see everyone in one room again. Despite having been asleep for.. how long had it been? Despite the missing pieces, which he had faith in the doctor, that would soon fall into place, he was curious to learn what had transpired when they had been out. For all he knew; it could have been weeks, months, years. It was scary to think anything beyond that conception. That everything inside this ship had remained the same, and everything out there had changed, developed, gotten stronger, faster, more scary. Scott found himself clenching jaw causing the muscles to harden. He felt a sudden wave of strength, and renewed vigor crash over his soul. He thought back to the face had seen in the pod. It was God. It had to be. As Rush and Tamara acknowledged his appearance, except for Rush who had his own ways of showing interest, Tamara seemed to be her cheerful self. That made Scott happy. He smiled at her even as she had her back turned momentarily. So he just stood there with his arms crossed watching the doctor and the medic work their magic. He simply just frowned at his uselessness. For the moment he felt out of his league. Computers, computer code, other computer stuff.



It was all the same to him. However, give him a brick of C4 and he would make sure no enemy computer would be able to broadcast any more crucial intelligence. He just watched as they ran a diagnostic. As Rush returned the gesture.. Scott felt himself grow more indignant of his position, but he held his posture, and watched Tamara instead as he spoke to the doctor, "It's alright, doctor. The situation calls for direct action. I wouldn't be offended if you had to focus on the task at hand. Just make sure the pods are functioning. I know you can fix the malfunction. If anybody aboard this ship, now, can fix it, we need you right now. I know you can do it. Command made sure they enlisted the best people for this mission. They didn't recruit what ifs, maybes, and sort ofs. We are the only ones out here. God help us, if they dont wake up." it was then that Scott was realizing he was sounding like the Colonel. His eyes flickered to the back of Rush's head. As if he would just turn around and address him as Colonel. When he didn't Scott found himself staring at the console between them. It wasn't until Tamara turned around and approached him did Scott feel like part of the crew again, and not some superficial third wheel in the back of the room. The best he could have offered were words of support. He was no technician.



As TJ approached him with that welcoming and warm smile on her face it made Scott return the smile. "I'm good TJ, I promise." he nodded solemnly at her as she squeezed his arm and turned back to her console, but he had his doubts about the situation, refusing to share them. Then Scott's eyes flashed as he realized something. "So uh, do we know anything about these pods? I mean, is there anything in the ships logs about their after effects. There has to be some form of side effect. Like, sleep sickness. I don't mean to bring people down, or distract you from the task at hand, but we should be prepared for everything, right?" he then moved over to a console along the display board. He ran his hand over the 3D display HUD, staring profoundly at what it all meant. His hand hovering over the keyboard. He waved his hand back and forth as if it would activate the display. But when nothing happened he simply just pouted. "I wish I understood this stuff. I'd be more help." talk about feeling like a third wheel. He looked up at TJ still running diagnostics. As she spoke to Rush about where they were and inquired about their length of sleep. Then a beep occurred on his console and he began to push the "cancel" button, mashing the button hoping the process would stop. "Crap," he said broadly, "stupid computer, what are you.." it made another beep. Great.



Just perfect. Scott tried another button but it just made another sound and a sub-screen popped up. He was getting nervous. And he had no idea what he was doing. Or why the computer decided to act up. Or how to stop it. So he just pushed buttons as alien code scrawled past the screen. He clenched his jaw nervously as he watched the text display across the screen. He raised his hands in the air defiantly at shoulder length as if to tell the computer he hadn't done anything. But then the sub-screen changed to "English?" he said aloud, "Well that works, I think." even though he had no idea what he was looking at. He folded an arm against his chest, as he pressed the thumb of his other hand to his chin, ponderously. "Um, guys." he scrolled the text again to make sure his eyes were seeing what his brain was reading. "According to the console I think I found.. oh, that's not good." the screen flashed messages at him. This time he understood exactly what it was trying to tell him. "It's just numbers and letters. But I can tell from the submessages that the ship sustained some sort of damage. Minor. Luckily the ship managed to, I think, when we were asleep activated defense measures to keep the crew safe. But somewhere along the way the shield malfunctioned. An asteroid caught the ship starboard and knocked out life-support in one of the rooms." He exhaled, lightly.



He hoped he was reading that right. "I don't think it was a room that we explored yet. We should probably still run a ship repair diagnostic, or whatever you call it." he looked up at the pair, "Just to be safe."

Dark... that was all he could think of. It was dark and cold and as quiet as the grave. The thought of the grave sent a shiver down his spine. Or was it all in his head? Eli couldn't tell if he was awake or dreaming. Was he still trying to fix the stasis pod so he could join his friends and the others in cryrosleep or was he in stasis dreaming he was trying to decide if he really was dreaming?

He suddenly realized he could move and he shivered again. It was cold, then a breeze brushed against his face, blowing back his bangs. Slowly his eyes opened and Eli realized he was in the Stasis pod, except now it was open once more and he was awake. Looking straight ahead he saw other Stasis pods, still closed and humming softly. They were still functional and their occupants still asleep. For one brief moment Eli thought his pod had malfunctioned, waking him up long before it should. A deep breath revealed the air wasn't stagnant and there was plenty of lights on, far more than those left on while he worked.

"I'm awake!" Eli announced more to himself than anybody else as he couldn't see anybody else. Stepping carefully out of the pod he checked the gages. "Now why is nobody else awake?"

As far as he could tell the pod deactivated on its' own but he didn't think it was a malfunction. The rest were fine and it was then he noticed at last one other pod as open. Feeling excited and relieved he wasn't the only one awake Eli started heading towards the control area. If anybody was up first they would likely be trying to check on the status of Destiny. If not then he could do so and it'll be that much easier to find out who was awake and where.

It didn't take him long to see a few people, all in the nearby control room. "You can't believe what a relief it is to see you guys. For a minute I thought I was the only one awake again and I just dreamed fixing the last Pod."