SHE WOKE BLIND to the scream of a siren.

Naked and encased in a standard travel pod, Relai spat out the dead breathing mask and heaved in a panicked breath. She pulled her face wide and horrified until her sealed eyelids tore open, blinked, and recognized drops of condensation forming on the gray plastic above her face. She was lying on her back.

Her pulse throbbed in her neck, in her temples, and she knew she wasn’t getting enough air. Slow down, slower, then—

No light and n. . .