Time passed, though, not a lot of it. What felt like years to Jameson was, he reasoned eventually, probably only a matter of minutes as he leaned against the wall in the half light, trying to remember what had happened to him, trying to shut out the pain in his ankle.


He backtracked in his thoughts to that morning. Woken up as usual, got coffee, as usual, so far, so ordinary. The stars had been strange, he recalled, the coffee had tasted funny, too. More bitter than usual, which...

Jameson woke up without ever having realised he'd gone to sleep. As is usual in these cases, his body took a moment to perform an automated "systems check" to ensure vital elements such as arms, legs, heads, guts, and other associated components were indeed still attached and functional. The results were promising. However the next phase of the systems check, which focuses on trying to establish some kind of contact with the world outside, was not going so well.

For starters,...

It was not a sound that you heard.

At least, not one you noticed hearing, anyway. It was more the sort of insistent, pervasive sound you quickly accepted, pushed out of your mind, ignored. The throbbing of engine noise, constant dull rumbling through the deckplates. Air conditioning cycling spent air with a reasonably low-pitched thrumm noise. Any of these would have been a suitable candidate. It was the kind of sound you only noticed when it stopped, and then suddenly realised you'd...