Calman (chapter I)

[theamericanzergling]

I'll probably post these weekly. These first few chapters may be a little slow.

Francis awoke, but sensed nothing. Nothing at all.

He awoke inside a stasis pod. He could hear nothing, see nothing, smell, taste, even feel nothing. It was the closest thing anyone could imagine to hell. He was alone with nothing but his thoughts.

A seeming eternity passed when suddenly Francis could hear. It was loud at first, or seemingly loud compared to being deaf. A voice of a man spoke to him. “Let your ears adjust for a second,” he said.

Francis could hear moaning from other men awakening from their stasis. He seemed hear everything. He heard his own breath and the breath of everyone in the room, the gelatin being sucked into his pod, the tiniest move of the foot on the floor. It was shocking at first, but he’d been through this process before, he knew what to expect. It still made him uneasy though, every time he did it.

“Alright,” the voice said, “I’m going to adjust your tongue.”

Francis could instantly feel his mouth. He realized that he was moaning and drooling. The taste was dry at first, but saliva soon filled his mouth. When it did, Francis’ taste heeded attention to the remaining gelatin¹ in his mouth.

“Your nose is next, then the eyes.”

When Francis could smell, he realized it smelled bad. The man in front of him was the best smelling thing near him. The room was full of sweat (and the gelatin from his pod didn’t help leave a lovely impression either).

His eyes suddenly worked. Everything was bright at first, but as his eyes adjusted (very slowly) he realized that the room was only lit by darker red lights. He saw the man in front of him, a pod doctor². He looked about middle-aged, but it was hard to tell in the red light. The man carried with him a kit filled with devices that Francis did not know anything about.

“Are there any problems?” the doctor asked.

Francis shook his head.

“Head down the hall. You can follow the crowd,” the doctor pointed at a door at the end of the long pod hall. Other men were waking up as well and clumsily heading that way. “The cafeteria is that way,” he continued, “Get something good to eat, get some real rest, and give your muscles some familiar exercise.” He injected something else into Francis and Francis suddenly could move. He did as he was told and followed the hallway. The doctor continued towards the next awakening pod.


The ship, called the Singularity, was very bright. The walls were white, if you could count them as walls. The interior of the Singularity appeared to be a network of tunnels, for each hallway was a circular shape. There were no sharp edges or blocky features on the walls. Even machines and furniture rarely had such edgy features.

Francis walked down the one hallway connected to his pod hall. Not necessarily a crowd, but a large number of his waking regiment were stumbling beside him. When they reached the cafeteria the room was partially filled with freshly awakened soldiers.

The cafeteria was a white room with a bubble shape similar to the halls. The room had white tables where those who already arrived sat. On the back wall there were windows to space. Francis saw no planet so he assumed that it must be on the other side of the ship. To the left and the right were food stands where androids³ prepared meals for the soldiers.

The soldiers themselves, including Francis, were very weary and dizzy. Francis had taken several falls before reaching the cafeteria himself. Some of the men were actually sleeping on their food trays.

Francis struggled to take his food and sit next to anyone that looked familiar. He found someone, Ratta Clarke from his squadron: squadron 59. Squadron 59 consisted of Francis, Ratta, Douglas, Sollux, Scott, Shawn, and Crackers. Clash, also known as “The Phoenix” was the leader of the squad.

Ratta wasn’t alone. Next to him was another member of the squad, Douglas. Ratta looked at his food intently. He seemed like he wanted to eat it, but was too tired to even try. Douglas was drinking British⁴ coffee, which was served in a capped container due to the dizzy state of the crew members.

Francis sat across from them. Ratta didn’t notice him, but Douglas acknowledged his presence. They were quiet for a while, until Francis tried to start a conversation.

“Don’t you just love space travel?” he said, or attempted to, some words may have been mistranslated due to his tired state.

Douglas smiled and nodded. Ratta just noticed Francis.

“Oh,” he said, “hi Francis.” His hand did something that Francis guessed was supposed to be a wave.

“Where’s the rest?” asked Francis, afterwards realizing the answer to his own question.

“He was at the end of our section,” stated Douglas, “we will probably see the rest before him.”

Just as he said that Sollux stumbled into a seat next to Francis. His eyes were a bit red. Francis attempted to talk to him but Sollux fell asleep on the table before anything was started.

Douglas chuckled, took another sip from his tea, and then talked to Francis, “We all know this is going to be a slow day. Tomorrow we can talk.”

¹ The “gelatin” is a substance that those within pods are covered with. The gelatin provides protection for the pod user and the necessary requirements for the user’s survival, such as nutrients, proteins, and vitamins. The gelatin stasis travel proved to be safer and more efficient than the older cryo-stasis. As you see later, the gelatin does not give the best sleep, pod users will often sleep for a minimum of twelve hours after the use of gelatin stasis. Other than that, other side effects include minor amnesia.

² Pod doctors are ship personnel who assist with recalibrating the dormant senses of stasis pod users. While in stasis, the brain will usually forget how to use the 5 senses. Pod doctors help give them back.

³ Just so you aren’t getting the wrong idea about these androids, they are not like other science fiction androids who nobody likes and seem very creepy. Most humans do not mind androids. They are controlled by their own artificial inelegance and are very capable to do tasks. These androids are used because they do their tasks almost perfectly with no problems or malfunction. If an android does malfunction, they are simply shut down and destroyed.

⁴ Note, the Americo Company is the current name for the descendants of the British-American Empire from the 23^rd century.