You ever gotten the feeling, that as you wake, you realize life has gone horribly wrong? That everything has turned upside down, and reality as you have know it has finally shattered, and the glass shards of your fragile life have cut so deep, nothing will be the same again? That utter terror of solitude that envelopes you as you realize you will never know another human comfort in your short life? That was the first feeling to slam home as I woke to a black steel ceiling, and air rushed into my lungs, forcing me to cough up the fluid that had been pooling.

Sitting up, I took several long gasping breaths, vomiting the last of the fluid out. Stareing down at it, a thought comes to mind, what was that? How was there fluid in my lungs, and I yet live? On the heels of that question another comes to mind. Just who am I? Where am I?

Looking up, I glance around what looks like a small labratory, book cases lining the wall behind me, all full of books with strange letterings across the spine. Adjacent to them, the right wall is token up by a huge steel desk, papers strewn all across it in a heaping mess, and what looks like journals at a glance, lying open and in neat stacks on the corner of the desk. Opposite that is a single medical cabinet and a dolly, filled with needles,knives of different sizes and types, as well as a long set of tongs set inside a small tray filled with blackend objects, all badly mishappen, to the point that I can't even begin to make sense of them. Finally, ahead of me, is a single sliding door, the seam of which I can barely make out, its curving metal frame merged flawlessly with the walls surrounding it.

As my feet touch the cold metal floors, it becomes startlingly apparent to me that I am without clothes. Glancing around I make the quick journey to the cabinet and pull it open with a jerk, its hings squalling in protest, long un-use making them quite uncooperative. Inside the cabinet are more of the strange books, and also cases of differnt sizes, all strewn wildly inside. Digging around I uncover a pair of jeans, and with nothing better, simply put them on, sitting on the table in the center of the small lab. As I button the snap another thought occurs to me. Just what was I doing lying in this room? As the question puzzles my already fuzzy brain, I remember the books on the desk, and quitely grab one, flipping through its pages. Unfortunatly for me, every page is written in more of the undecernable language, but one thing becomes abundantly clear as I set the book aside and try several more, all written in the same language, as well as the notes scattered around the desk, their all medical notes. Some even have diagrams drawn on them, dipicting all sorts of creatures, land, sea and air.

As I try to study one of the notes on the desk, the lights set into the ceiling flicker menacingly, as if stirred to anger by my awakening, then stop, as if nothing in the world happened. Glaring at it quizically, I sigh and turn back to the paper in my hands, only to find it covered in a black fluid of some kind. Suddenly, the fluid begins to shimmer, and an image forms as I stare in disbelief. A lone man about 5'8" with a medium build quietly kneels against what looks like a console of some kind, his short brown hair gleaming a dark red in the lighting of the console. As I stare at him he runs his hand against something next to him, but at this angle, and with the lighting the way it is, I can barely make out what it is, until he clutches it against his chest and rocks silently, and I realize its the body of a young woman, perhaps the same age as him. Along the top of her head is a savage gash, though it doesnt appear to be bleeding at all. For some unknown reason, something about the man and woman seems strangely familier to me.

Suddenly, the shadows behind him flare outwards and launch towards the man, and towards me. Recoiling back, I drop the paper, and back into the dolley causing the instruments on top of it to clatter to the ground around it. Startled at first, I quickly grab one of the scalpels off of the tray and turn back to face the shadow paper, only to find it normal again. Even so, I gently ease my way around it, making for the door.

As the steel door hiss's open, I'm made suddenly very aware of the darknes of the hallway, the lights and consoles lineing the walls flickering off and on.As the shadows jump around me, I quickly step to one of the flickering consoles, and catch a quick flash of what look like a ship diagram on the screen before it flickers again. Glancing around I find a small panel under the console, and pry it off, exposing the wires inside it. Looking in, I start checking each of the connections, making sure each is secure, and trying to find where the problem is.