Abandoned to Space - Electric Dreams #13

Abandoned to Space

---

“It comes in pink and vomit green”

The female sounding voice spoke to me from the invisible speakers.

For the second time in the few minutes I had been awake, I was stunned speechless. The first time being my location, it could only be described as a metal box.

I looked down at the orange jumpsuit I was wearing. From my cloggy memories I knew that it meant I was a prisoner. My crime was yet to be remembered.

The very last memory I have is the flash of a knife and a pool of blood. The feeling of being on edge filled me after the memory surfaced. The feeling had yet to disperse.

“Vomit green? That sounds wonderful.”

I said to myself sarcastically. However the voice didn't recognise intonation and my suit aptly changed colour. I think I had preferred the orange. The voice had said another colour.

“How about the pink?”

My suit changed again. The pink was not much better but it made me feel less like a criminal.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

The voice spoke again. The flatness of tone sent a shiver down my spine.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Whale which is short for Wise, Helpful and Lenient Electronics system. You are Tilly Frank, Prisoner number 1483. You are on board the Strathmoore Spaceship. It is 1500 hours on the sixth day of February 3018. Do you have any other questions?”

“No… Thank you… Whale?”

I sat down on the floor. My first thought was that the whole thing was a prank. How could I not make that assumption? I tried very hard to rationalise it all. I sat and waited for someone to come and tell me it was a joke. But eventually my curiosity got the better of me.

I walked down narrow corridors that were lined with steel sheets. My boots clanked against the floor. There were no windows. The lights were bars embedded within the walls, casting a very dull illumination. Doorways opened whenever I walked too near, this made me jump the first time I encountered it. I got lost very quickly.

I eventually came to a doorway that didn't open as I neared it and there was no obvious way to open it.

“Access denied.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Whale which is short for Wise, Helpful and Lenient Electronics system. You are Tilly Frank, Prisoner number 1483. You are on board the Strathmoore Spaceship. It is 1548 hours on the 6th day of February 3018. Do you have any other questions?”

“No that's not…”

I huffed out a deep breath as I reasoned that I had probably been walking in circles for the last 48 minutes.

“Why am I here?”

“You were killed in a freak accident in a prisoner of war camp. Your body was submitted for scientific research. You are part of Dr Strathmoore’s research.”

I rubbed my eyes and exhaled. The incident that was my death came into clearer focus in my memories. I had been arguing with a guard, I had been on thin ice but I’d carried on shouting in his face, he stabbed me to shut me up. A full life in that prison camp would have been a fate worse than the death I had.

“So I died. How am I alive now? Did you say it was the year 3018?”

“You are alive due to the scientific breakthrough made by Dr Strathmoore in the year 2018. Yes today's date is the 6th day of February 3018.”

“Why me?”

The voice of Whale didn’t respond.

I carried on my tour of the place and found what looked like a kitchen. The food consisted of freeze dried packets of tasteless granules. My stomach and taste buds were not impressed.

“Is there anyone else here?”

“Yes.”

Whale didn't elaborate and the one word answer was more than a little disconcerting.

“Where are they?”

“The other prisoners are in their cells.”

I racked my brains looking for a clue as to how many people could be on board the spaceship with me, when I remembered the number Whale had given me. Prisoner 1483.

“How many prisoners are on board?”

“Seven.”

That number didn’t add up in my mind. Why would I have such a large prisoner number if there were only a handful of people on board? And why was the ship so large to hold only 7 people. Why were we even here in the first place? Maybe they would have better answers than Whale.

“Are they awake?”

“No.”

I threw the packet onto the table, careful not to waste any food, and paced around the room.

“Then why am I awake?”

“You were the first of Dr Strathmoore’s experiments to be successful.”

I felt discouraged to continue asking Whale questions when she kept providing me with unhelpful answers. I considered my options, which were few and far between. I didn't know how or why I was alive, the only offering Whale had given was this Dr Strathmoore.

I finished eating the packet of what could only be described as dirt, feeling rather dissatisfied and decided to continue exploring.

All the corridors blended into one. There were no distinctive landmarks to give me any form of direction or orientation. Even the doors to locked rooms were equally spaced apart. I started to consider my next questions to Whale when I came across a window, a window that highlighted the very real truth that I was on board a spaceship. I could see a few stars in the distance and closer were some small planets.

My knowledge of the planets within my own solar system was limited but I knew that the colours of these planets didn’t match any from the Milky Way. Where in space am I?

A part of me wished I had studied to be a space scientist, but hindsight had that effect on everything. The work I was doing before I died, before I was in the prison, it had been too important.

I had been working for an NGO, helping people escape a war. It was my life's work. Now I don't even know if our commitments to the cause had been successful.

All I remember is dying for my arrogance.

I entered a room that felt significantly warmer than the rest of the ship. I hadn’t noticed the temperature until now. The room looked similar to the one I woke up in. A simple bed, a table and chair. The only difference was this room had two doors not one. I opened the second door and came face to face with a large bearded man. We screamed at each other.

I backed out of the room looking around for a weapon.

“Hello Harold Parker, prisoner number 559. Please do not attack Tilly Frank, prisoner number 1483.”

The man looked around erratically for the voice.

I held up my hands in the hopes of calming him.

“Hi Harold, I’m Tilly, the voice is Whale. She’s a computer, I think. Do you remember how you got here?”

He shook his head.

I indicated for him to take a seat which he did, his temper evaporating.

“I woke up here a few hours ago. You’re not going to believe me but we’re on a spaceship. I don’t know where we’re heading or why we’re here. Whale doesn’t seem to know either. I know there are at least 5 other people on board. And there is a kitchen with food, if you are hungry. That’s all I know so far.”

He listened to me speak and didn’t interrupt me.

“I died.”

His words made me relive my own death. For a moment I was back in the camp shouting at the top of my voice. I could still hear people screaming as they were being knocked about, the dogs barking and the dreaded whistle.

I snapped back into the present.

“We’re experiments. I don’t how we’re alive. I don’t know anything anymore.”

This is my entry to the @tygertyger’s Electric Dreams Contest.

Find out about the contest here.

Image from Pixabay

_Divider.