Though Thomas was now tuned out from reality for the most part, he did start noticing other pods begin to open. This was not surprising at all since that is what they were supposed to be doing. One by one they started filing out of the pods. Each of the people got oriented in their own way, eventually some began to speak. Thomas did not pay much mind to anything that they were saying because, at that moment, he did not really care. Everyone he knew, though a small number, was now surely gone. He was also positive that they would be returning to a desolate planet. It was a hard pill to swallow. The people were asking questions and just trying to figure things out, there was even a smart ass comment made. Finally Thomas grew weary and spoke up. 

"It had to have been a technical malfunction or something" he said, addressing the two individuals that had asked about why they slept for so long. "I don't know what happened, or why, and I doubt that we're going to get an answer to that question. As for how we get down, I believe it's supposed to auto-pilot us down to the surface, but then again, that could have gone haywire when the pods did. I think a real good question we should ask ourselves is why are [i]those[/i] pods opened with no one coming out?" Thomas pointed to the long rows of pods that were opened. "I know for a fact that there are supposed to be more people here" he trailed off as he wandered over to the nearest opened pod. Immediately the stench hit him. "Fuck" he muttered, "well that answers that. They're dead. They really shot themselves in the foot this time. Thank God there are other ships" Thomas said.

After speaking up, he made his way over to the large 'window' that was in the side of the ship. The scene outside was shocking and awesome at the same time. It was a vast expanse. Space. Earth was below them, it looked as it did in pictures before they left, maybe it was the same. Two things caught his eye regarding the ship. The first was the fact that there were no other ships attached, it was just the one he was on. The second was all the cosmetic damage to the side of the ship. It looked like something crashed into the vessel. Thomas decided not to speak up about that, it would be better to let the rest find out on their own. Thomas was not a scientist, an engineer, or a genius. He pieced together what he saw using common sense. It was obvious that something terrible had happened to the vessel during the sleep, he just could not figure out what it was. 

"Well" he said, making his way back to the group. "The fact that the ship woke us up must mean somethings working. I guess we'd better just wait until something happens" he said. Thomas would wait to reveal that he was a test pilot until he knew that his skill set was needed. "I'm Thomas by the way".