Alma's last couple of minutes had been a rollercoaster. The escape pods had deployed, and so had the gravity repulsors, giving the pod a gentle landing despite the rocky flight. That was about the only advantage.
It took her several minutes before she could even muster up the courage to sit up. Looking at Haiser, she got the little bit of energy needed to get up. She reached for the nearly empty canteen of nutritional fluid. This is what she had been snacking on.
Built for the worst case scenario, the escape pod had ten bottles of nutritional fluids, enough to feed a crew of five members for two days. This pod especially had been with a maximum capacity of five, built to hold the entire crew should all else fail.
It was also equipped with omni compasses, flashlights, and all kinds of equipment and survival gear, not to mention, weapons. Everything about the pod was meant to guarantee the survival of the crew members should anything untoward happen to the ship, just as it had.
With this in mind, Alma had gorged on the nutritional fluids. She knew she had enough, at least for a few days. If she still needed the fluids after that, she hated to think what that would mean. Nope, she could not sink to fear.
Tired beyond what she thought was possible, Alma decided to take a nap. A very much needed nap. She could feel her own body shutting down.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
"Argh!" She shouted. "What now? What could possibly be left that hasn't gone wrong?" This came from deep down. She was even afraid of stepping out any day, any time. Every part of her was screaming. She had had enough.
Come on girl, you're strong. You got this. This will only be a while and you're done. A much needed pep talk. With that, she was able to still her heart. Taking a deep breath, she started looking around. What was the cause of the alarm.
"Low power, hibernating soon." The med bay AI said in its monotonous metallic voice. Standing up, she checked the control panel.
[Patient status: Stable.
Health progression: 65%
Time required to peak health: 5 hours
Warning: With low power, Med bay will hibernate soon.
Time to hibernation: 2 minutes 23 seconds
Notice: If med bay goes into hibernation while healing patient, the patient will go into a coma for a time. This is meant to reduce the trauma of the healing process on the patient.
Duration in coma: Unknown.]
Just five hours. That's all they needed. However, fate or the universe could not even give them that! Come on, work with me. She shouted.
The logical part of her could understand. After all, landing had been a massive drain on the pod's energy reserves. Not to mention, the med bay's battery had been depleted. With all this factored in, of course the med bay would be out of power, but why so soon?
Looking at the handsome face lying in the med bay, a sharp sense of helplessness hit her. All her energy, all her effort, she was still stuck in this, this... she couldn't even come up with a word for it.
All her life, she had been adorned with riches and luxury. She never knew the feeling of tripping, or opening a door. She knew she was strong, but really, was she? With the helplessness and despair knocking, she felt her mind sway, falling on the hard metallic floor of the pod.
She then leaned back and started sobbing softly, without even the energy to wail anymore. At some point, she ran out of tears, and much later, she fell asleep. She dreamt of waking up to find Haiser's strong arms. Then, all would be fine. She couldn't forget that they were in this scenario because he refused to give her up.
Several hours later.
Alma woke up to the sound of the escape pod's alarm. These things all sounded the same, and the sound of it gave her the creeps. Looking around, she realized what was wrong. The pod was also running out of power. With this, life support would deteriorate.
Good news, she was in a habitable planet. All she had to do was open the escape pods hatch and she would survive. She was in no hurry, not until her knight in shining armor was out of his coma, however long it would take.
She felt as though the pod had mocking her, telling her it'd take an unknown amount of time. After cranking up the escape pod's door and opening the hatch, she felt a rush of fresh air come rushing in. As she drunk the nutritional fluid, she realized how beautiful the scenery was.
From a far, she could see the beautiful expanse of fresh greenery. There were mountain ranges over the horizon, and from a very far distant, she could see a very clear lake. Getting out, she took a deep breath, admiring everything around.
Despite all that had happened, this place was not so bad to end up. It almost looked as though her luck had turned. Almost. She began berating herself, she really shouldn't have said that, now she had jinxed herself.
The next moment, she heard the low hum of an aerial hovercraft. It was nowhere near them, but if she continued to linger, she would be chanced upon.
Perhaps, maybe this once, she should wait. Hope to get rescued. Maybe she was far enough, maybe she was finally out of reach of the nightmares that plagued her. Maybe that distant hum that was coming closer was her salvation.
Unfortunately, she couldn't take the risk. Her enemies were just that powerful, and their reach was just that long. If she took a gamble, and she guessed wrong, it would be too late if it did not turn out the way she hoped it would. With a heavy sigh, she realized just what she had to do.