He awoke with a start. A new place. New sights and sounds. His ears hurt and his eyes blurry. “Wait a moment” said a voice, barely discernable from the background noise. “Is that better?” His head started to clear. In a haze everything started to flood back to him. Sensations at first, the cold against his skin… goosebumps forming as the wetness of the fluid that had covered him started to evaporate. Then came his hearing… familiar sounds began to replace cacophony. Familiar voices… then his site. The woman standing before him.. her eyes blue and her hair a bright red. “What happened?” he said, his thoughts still not clear… still remembering who he was. He was on board a ship, one in space… now he remembered. The name of the ship was Proteus, one of Earth’s first large exploratory vessels sent out to explore exoplanets discovered in the late 20th and early 21st centuries for possible colonization… and he was her captain. His name was Jonathan “Jack” Alexander.
She was named for a greek god of the sea whose name also means “first.” No one knows who thought of the name, but it certainly did stick. She was a hybrid of two designs which also originated in the 20th century, but were never acted on by man… not until, of course, necessity forced mankind to come to terms with the problems of overpopulation and pollution. Proteus was a beautiful melding of a Bussard Ramjet and a Solar Sail and also combined various other technologies in order to sustain life aboard her. To her captain she was a gentle and delicate womb in which his little part of humanity, himself and her crew, existed in a tenuous balance. One that had to be closely monitored and maintained by all aboard… without exception.
“Drink this” the voice said… clearer this time, “Slowly.” The bitter and metallic taste of the electrolyte solution he was given assaulted his sense of taste. Once he swallowed he started to feel better as the trace elements of copper, zinc, sodium and potassium made their way into his bloodstream and assisted in nerve conduction. "It’s the 22nd century... You would think they could make this stuff taste a LITTLE better!" he thought to himself. He opened his eyes and beheld her again. Natalie, the ship’s doctor. It was her duty to see to it that all personnel came out of hypersleep properly, but something was strange. Under normal circumstances she would have been overseeing the team awakening the crew and, as nice as it was to have some personal attention from her, she shouldn’t be down here opening his pod herself.
Now fully awake he repeated his earlier question “What happened?” he said, this time a little less hoarse. “The ship has started to slow down, Jack. I was awakened first… with orders in the computer to awaken you myself.”
He first needed to find out how long they’d been asleep. The ship has two massive drive systems. The main drive is used to collect hydrogen and other material from the surrounding space and funnel them through successively smaller and smaller magnetic fields until nuclear fusion occurs and the result is ejected at high speed propelling the ship through space. The secondary drive, though less elegant, was no less effective. It consisted of the release of small thermonuclear devices behind the ship and the use of an ablative plate to allow the resulting explosion to push the craft. The secondary drive was usually used to get the ship to speed before the ramjet was activated. The ship had a third system, a solar sail, which was used for travel in planetary systems, but this usually remained furled unless absolutely needed. Both of the ship’s main engines were monsters. So much so that unless you were strapped in when they were activated you’d be thrown against the nearest bulkhead.
He made his way through the dark corridors of the ship which were just coming to life. Lights coming on, sensing his presence as he walked. Making his way to the bridge.