It seemed that, for the most part, everyone was in agreement that the group should leave the vessel and start the descent home. Even though he was a trained pilot, Thomas had reservations about piloting back to Earth. Many, many, times he had practiced in the simulator and he had even flown the craft, but that was on Earth. Not once did he actually venture out into the great dark beyond. This would be his first time in space, and the situation was not ideal. His crew was made up of strangers, he was 200 years older than he planned on being, and to top it off, he had absolutely no idea what he was flying back into. In his mind there were two distinct possibilities regarding Earth. Civilization was still intact and they would return to be greeted by a new, advanced, civilization. Or, they would return to a desolate planet. Obviously, the latter was not preferable to Thomas, but he was leaning towards that. To him it was very strange that the only communication they seemed to have received, was the "wake up call". [i]Best case scenario, they have simply forgotten us and will get in touch once we enter radar range.[/i] Thomas thought. The second option was very grim. If they returned and were the only people left on Earth, Thomas decided that perhaps it would be best to try and find some kind of sharp object, or a gun, and just end it there. He stopped thinking about that.

[b]"Well I'm more than willing to fly us out of here. Unfortunately, I was ushered into my cryo-pod quite quickly and I didn't get much of a layout for the ship. I'll go look for the bay, that's where the shuttle will most likely be"[/b] Thomas looked around the large, cavern of a chamber that they were in. There were rows and rows of unopened, silver, pods. Each of them had a thick glass panel that had fogged up, distorting the face of the person still inside. The black panel on the side of each pod gave general information, including vital signs, but that would be up to a doctor to figure out. The pod chamber was on one side of the ship, and consisted of a majority of it. All along the right hand side, closest to the group, was a large set of thick windows. The scene outside of the ship was magnificent. Earth was visible, in all of it's glory. There was much more though. Slowly, as the group had been talking, debris had floated in front of the windows. The debris was part of the other vessels. It would be easy for someone to rationalize that the rest of the ships had been destroyed by something, perhaps the floating meteorite chunks. The chamber itself, save for the pods and a few computer consoles, was devoid of life. It was barren, empty, it was a shell. [b]"In movies"[/b], Thomas cracked a brief smile at the thought of watching a movie, [b]"they, the group, usually doesn't separate because of some dangers, but to be honest I don't really think there's anything up here that'll be dangerous to us other than ourselves. So I'll go alone to find the shuttle, unless anyone cares to join me"[/b]. Thomas gave a brief shrug as he finished his last sentence.

Walking through the rows of pods eerily resembled walking through a long row of military coffins. In fact, it was almost the same. The whole situation gave off a bad vibe, but Thomas had never been one of those people who lived their lives based on vibes. Thomas was at the doorway now, it was open. He placed his hand on the frame, turned, and took a last glance at the chamber. It had been a tomb that had closed him off to the cold grasp of time. One last thought regarding that came into his mind. He wondered if they would have been better off not waking up. With that, he took his first step into the hallway and looked around. The dream he had been having before he had awoken suddenly rushed to him. The hallway, though not covered in fungus or damp, was very similar, almost identical. Something made him turn around, to see if he was being chased. There was nothing there. A sign on the wall pointed Thomas in the direction of the bay, he began heading towards it.