Yuri Karpenko was blind. This state of being, however, was not caused by the blown fusebox. As a young boy, he and his friends had gone to view a solar eclipse, against his parent's warnings of dire consequences.
"This was your own doing, Yuri!!" his mother had screamed.
But all she succeeded in doing was to rub salt into the wound, as Yuri would disobey his parents, or any authority again. When he parents died, however, he was freed from the bondage of being their child, and became an unlicensed psychiatrist. Yuri always carried his first pair of glasses with him, as a reminder of the incident that caused him to lose his original, 20/20 vision. At the time, his family was too poor to afford the surgery, but after his first paycheck from the Kremlin, Yuri was free to buy whatever he wished, or change whatever he wished.
He remembered visiting the fat, jolly Dr. Luftkov in Moscow. "Yuri, my boy," said the fat, jolly man, "I can do anything for you that you want..."
Yuri chose not to have his vision surgically corrected after he left the doctor's office to find an advertisement by Dr. Luftkov reading:
Doctor Piotyr Luftkov, specializing in all forms of surgical altercations, from man to woman, from woman to man! Come today, and receive a 25% discount!
Although Yuri felt that his decision to not alter his vision was the best he could have made, he began to reget his decision now. He gingerly removed his glasses from twenty-three years ago out of a suitcase in his quarters after groping around for some time. He looked though the glasses, and grinned. The problem now, thought Yuri, was trying to fit his glasses on his head. Taking a plier out of his electrician's toolcase, he carefully, but forcefully, bent the rims of the glasses.
"Can you feel you arm?" asked Zhuang, with a slight scowl on his face.
"No, master," replied Amer, "In fact, I cannot feel my hand either."
Zhuang took a closer look at Amer's arm. Though the wound had cauderized, and the chances of Amer getting infection were low, a new threat had appeared. While the burn had destroyed flesh, the burn also cut off the blood supply to Amer's hand. Zhuang looked at Amer's pinky and ring fingers. The tips were a deep purple, and cold. Zhuang looked at his wristwatch. 1000 Hours Sirius Standard Time. It was going to be a long night.
Zhuang led Amer back to his room, and told him to rest. He and Karpenko now had work to do. The rest need to be awoken.
Yuri Karpenko strode down the narrow corridors to the ladder descending to the stasis chambers. He grabbed his flashlight, held it between his teeth, and climbed down. The room were the fusebox was was freezing cold now, as the air from the cryostasis chamber had entered through the time-lock door. Karpenko took a deep breath, and walked into the stasis room.
The stasis room was designed similarly to the locker rooms in universities. There would be several rows of stasis chambers, back to back, and walkways in-between. There were 32 stasis chambers in all, and four rows, eight chambers to a row. Next to each chamber, there was a small console where the crewmember's passcode would be entered. Yuri memorized a set of passcodes, and the other set, the captain's passcodes, would be found on the crew manifest in a small safe at the end of the fourth row. Yuri unbuttoned one button at the top of his collar, a removed a chain where a large, fat, dogtag shaped container and a small key hung from. Yuri took the small key, and walked through the rows of the crew in stasis. The dim greenish glow from each of the chambers began to annoy Yuri. He could barely see anything with the light, and it reminded him of a horror film. Yuri never liked horror films. They were always completely overated, and not exciting at all.
He reached a small box at the end of the walkway. He inserted the key in, and turned. The box swung open, but within, there was another door, one with a dial on it, and a small handle beneath the dial. He reached in, entered the combination, depressed the dial, and the door suddenly shot forward. Holding the handle, Yuri dragged the drawer out, and inside was the manifest.
He glanced at it quickly, and skipped over the page of the officers' passcodes to the crews' passcodes. Using the dim light, Yuri began entering the passcodes at the small console next to each stasis chamber. One from memory, and one from the manifest.
Amer looked at the ceiling. There was a strange layer of dust that seemed to have bonded with the rest of the structure of the ship, and it refused to come off.
He thought about himself, and his existence. If there was no afterlife, what would there be to look for after...well...life? Everything had to be done now.
Pultolski's thesis may have been challenged, but it was still right. Amer shut his eyes tightly and yawned. He had planned to get up and help, but fell quickly asleep.
"The expansion of the universe simply prohibits the existence of a 'heaven'. That state of existence cannot be proven, nor can it be proven correct. Vatican has fed you, every single one of you, so much bull, that you have submitted yourself to believing their heinous propoganda! There is nothing after this life. Whatever you wish to do, do it now, for there is nothing to look for afterwards..." droned on the voice.
Amer was among a group of others. They seemed so familiar, but he could not recall who they were. Wait, thought Amer, this was his old high school classroom! He was back in Beirut again. That man...thought Amer...who was he?
Yuri Karpenko was finished with his job, and placed the manifest on top of the drawer from which it came from. But they still had a problem. Six hours until destasis. Four hours of power remaining in the undamaged power cells.
He climbed up the ladder, but Yuri realized that he neede to bring the manifest back to the bridge. He wheeled around and headed back to the ladder. Karpenko slid down and walked back into the cyrostasis room. The dim glow from the tubes was beginning to frighten him, but Yuri garnered all his courage and headed through. Everytime he walked through the aisles, it seemed like there was something behind him. Something, or someone watching his every move. Yuri felt his heart thud through his rib cage, and his pulse echoing in his ears.
When he reached the safe, he grabbed the manifest, and ran out of the chamber. Yuri made a mental note to himself to never come back down into the stasis chambers alone again.
Yuri made his way to the ladder, and tucking the manifest under his right arm, began to make his way up the ladder. As he reached for a rung with right hand, the manifest slipped, and fell into the darkness below. The ladder was not very high and Yrui jumped down, and groped around the floor for the manifest.
"Govno," muttered Yuri. He could not see anything. Yuri took out his flashlight, turned it on, and realized that the manifest was right under his nose.
Zhuang Li Zhi, sat in the bridge. Maybe Yuri had hurt himself, he thought. To be sure, he decided to check on him anyways. The destasis process took hours, but the programming was supposed to take minutes. Either Yuri got hurt, or he forgot the passcodes. Both situations were not exactly something to be proud of.
Zhuang climbed down the ladder into the darkness of the room. He could see the dim green glow from the stasis chambers, but the room was so dark he couldn't see his own hand in front of him.
"Yuri?" called out Zhuang.
A bright light suddenly appeared from across the room, next to the destroyed fusebox.
Yuri Karpenko sat next to the box, clutching the manifest as if he were hanging to it for dear life.
"Yuri," said Zhuang.
Karpenko did not look at Zhuang, but stared at the manifest.
"Something," muttered Yuri as he paused and swallowed, "is horribly wrong."
To be continued....
-----------------------------------------------
Enjoy!! :D
Sorry for the late installment, guys...I think it was almost a week you had to wait. But recently, I have been extremely busy.
Quote:[7:42:05 PM][6:51:36 PM] Igor (Smokey): btw terry
[6:51:48 PM] Terrance Cooper: Ye?
[6:52:00 PM] Igor (Smokey): nothin
[6:52:03 PM] Igor (Smokey): just sayin btw
[6:52:05 PM] Terrance Cooper: <_<
Quote:Johnny_Haas: you shot anti criuse speed rockets!!!
Johnny_Haas: but why????
Johnny_Haas: ??
Johnny_Haas: why you shoot criuse speed rockets?
Yuri Karpenko looked up from the ship's manifest. "When you signed on for this mission....did they tell you how long it would take?"
Zhuang stared at the politik. "Is this some kind of interrogation? I never questioned my orders."
"I didn't say you did. But lets just say that a nation on the brink of victory has just realized that their mortal enemies escaped into oblivion. What do you think the logical thing to do is?"
The ship's Captain stared at his politik. Zhuang had not expected this from Yuri.
"I would pursue them," said Zhuang firmly after some thought.
"You blockhead," muttered Yuri, lifting the manifest and tapping it on Zhuang's head.
"Excuse me?"
"You think that the Coalition would waste that much money and effort on pursuing an enemy that they would most likely never find?!" exclaimed Yuri, "Do you understand? We're part of a propoganda program."
"What?" squinted Zhuang. "Give me that manifest Yuri, and we'll figure out what's wrong."
"Everything's WRONG!" screamed Yuri, "The fact that we are here is wrong! You should be back in the mainland, I should be in my flat drinking vodka and eating borscht! We shouldn't be HERE. ANYWHERE, but here."
"Yuri! The manifest, please."
Yuri hurled the manifest at Zhuang. "Take a look at it. We don't have cooks, we don't have communication liasions, we don't even have GUNNERS. The thirty-two men that we just woke up...they're all conscripted cadets."
Zhuang stared at the manifest reading it over. The pieces were beginning to fall into place. Despite the fact that he hated to admit it, Yuri Karpenko was right. Something was horribly wrong. There was only one thing left to do, as the politik had cornered him.
"No skills at all," muttered Yuri, slumping down into his corner.
Dropping the manifest, Zhuang grasped Yuri by the collar and suddenly lifted the much smaller man into the air.
"Agh!! What are y...," shouted Yuri in surprise.
Before he could finish, Zhuang slammed him into the wall. "If I didn't need you anymore, I would have thrown you through the airlock. Now calm down."
Yuri nodded, and Zhuand lowered him. The Captain picked up the manifest again and looked through it.
"We have Porchevsky," said Zhuang, not taking his eyes of the manifest.
"Right, right, Porchevsky," muttered Yuri.
Zhuang handed the manifest back to Yuri. "Have you been in the army for a long time, Yuri?"
"Eh?" asked Yuri, looking up.
"I guess that I have never seen such an advanced case, then," mused Zhuang, smiling, "You ought to review your anatomical lessons."
Yuri was totally confused now. "What?"
"There are only thirty one men in the statis chambers. We have a lady on board."
Yuri stared blankly into the chamber. "I didn't have my good glasses!"
"I'm going to try to get us some help from out there," said Zhuang thumbing at the hull of the ship. "Monitor the statis tubes, make sure nothing goes wrong. And calm down."
Yuri looked at Zhuang. He could not help admire the man, despite the death threats and cruelty he extracted from his crew. Yuri turned towards the Cryo chamber.
"Yuri," added Zhuang as he climbed up the ladder, "Don't stare. I hear they're conscious long before they actually get out."
Aye, bluntpencil, this one was from before you got here. I totally forgot about it. I guess the mods decided to keep this one around instead of deleting it!
Oh and a Kommunist Kookie to whoever can tell me what language this segment begins in!
Two Kommunist Kookies to whoever can translate it!
Quote:[7:42:05 PM][6:51:36 PM] Igor (Smokey): btw terry
[6:51:48 PM] Terrance Cooper: Ye?
[6:52:00 PM] Igor (Smokey): nothin
[6:52:03 PM] Igor (Smokey): just sayin btw
[6:52:05 PM] Terrance Cooper: <_<
Quote:Johnny_Haas: you shot anti criuse speed rockets!!!
Johnny_Haas: but why????
Johnny_Haas: ??
Johnny_Haas: why you shoot criuse speed rockets?
![[Image: Harlequinn-Copy2.png]](http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j130/dboy1612/Harlequinn-Copy2.png)
![[Image: sig-9566.jpg]](http://www.clintonio.com/sig-9566.jpg)