/// JILLIAN BOSLER // 3:28AM EST-ET // (DATE UNKNOWN) // (LOCATION UNKNOWN) ///

BEEP

"Warning; Cryo-Capsule 13 unlock sequence activated" ...

BEEP

"Warning; Cryo-Capsule 13 unlock sequence activated" ...

BEEP

"Warning; Cryo-Capsule 13 unlock sequence activated" ...

BEEP

"Warning; Cryo-Capsule 13 unlock sequence activated" ...

The metallic voice, echoing itself into eternity, may as well have been speaking a foreign language for all Jillian Bosler could understand of it.
It was bright; a searing brightness, one which burnt through the skin of her eyelids and fed into the dull throbbing that dripped like molasses down the edges of her head to settle hotly where her skull rested against... something.
Another round of piercing, dog-whistle-like beeps and prerecorded messages hammered their way into the place just above her eye sockets, evoking a low groan from the woman laying length-ways in Cryo-Capsule 13.
Unconsciously, her arms began to stir... Or to try to. There was what felt like a series of thick bands; like strong, cold hands, holding her in place. The half realization of her immobility began to work it's way into her fog-addled brain, causing a thin sheen of panic to surface near the back of it where some amount of her real self lay.

This small epiphany convinced her to begin the work of opening her eyes against the harsh, intruding light. Upon carefully doing so, she was confused. A vast expanse of dull, smooth off white... Nothing more. A ceiling, perhaps? Gingerly, she tried to twist her head to the side but found, once again, she was unable.

More panic.

Why was she here?

In lieu of moving her head, she executed the more painful job of rotating her eyes to the side. She could see the high, round edges of wherever it was she lay... And just above it; before the vast whites of the ceiling, the last of a wall.

Just as panic began to work its way further into her now clearing mind; the computer issued a different message.

BEEP

"Cryo-Capsule 13 Unlock sequence activating in 30 seconds" ...

BEEP

"Cryo-Capsule 13 Unlock sequence activating in 20 seconds" ...

BEEP

"Cryo-Capsule 13 Unlock sequence activating in 10 seconds" ...

BEEP

"Cryo-Capsule 13 Unlock sequence activating in 5...

4...

3...

2..."

Jillian's breath caught in her throat. Was that her? Cryo-Capsule 13? A more pressing realization hummed in the back of her mind but she pushed it away for now.

BEEP

"Cryo-Capsule 13 Unlock sequence activated" ...

A Whooshing sound filled the room, and the bands from her arms and legs released. She twitched them appreciatively, and found they felt wrong. Like moving a leg that had been ensconced in a cast for too long...

Something else was even more bizarre. She had no way of knowing for sure; but as her body floated upwards gently at the lightest twitches from her limbs, she felt innately that it wasn't meant to be this way. That things did not go up for no discernible reason; that things as heavy as she should not float around like the lightest of feathers.
This sense of wrongness settled in her bones and caused an unholy shiver to wrack through her already weak body.

Before she could fully reckon herself with this strange turn of events; a new message played.

BEEP

"Warning; Cryo-Capsule 17 unlock sequence activated" ...

A stomach churning mixture of dizziness, confusion, and fear overcame her like a shifting blanket; and as it covered her, it smothered out the piercing light.
Once more she plunged into unconsciousness.

removed

Jillian rose back into consciousness, bobbing up to the surface like a mottled apple. Some primal, animal instinct left in her now civilized mind alerted her that she was not alone; giving her a strong jolt.

Whipping her head to the side, she spied a hulking brute of a man floating next to her in the tepid air of the unfamiliar room. Alarm coursed through her veins, hot and spiked like so many tiny needles.

Who was he? Friend or foe? A dawning sickness overcame her as she understood something she had been on the brink of discovering before losing consciousness.
Not only did she have no recollection of the man next to her; she had no recollection of herself. This realization had come as she searched her memory for clues of where and with whom she could possibly be, the brief scan returning curiously empty of anything at all.
That was of lesser importance to the more immediate danger; however. Compartmentalizing had always been a strength of hers, so she pushed the awakening terror aside.

Should this man be a danger to her, she was in no position to defend herself against an attacker. Though; looking at him, he may not be either. Dizziness and weakness marked his body; too. Like a piece of fruit left out too long, he looked as withered as she felt. Crossing her arms warily over her chest, Jillian ventured to greet him.

"...Where am I?"

removed

Jillian watched the man's face twist in a contorted set of emotional acrobatics, responding to what she had thought a fairly simple question. She counted the seconds warily, guarding her body from his as she scrutinized his expression.

This was almost pointless, as she couldn't do much analyzing of anything, really. She was singularly off kilter and mentally unbalanced; the lack of gravity creating an eerie, dreamlike nature to her body and mind. Aside from her initial shock upon waking, however, the fact that she was floating caused her less alarm than perhaps it should have. She knew she was in space; and she knew this with a certainty that did not match the emptiness that echoed in other corners of her mind.
It was a FACT, boldly labeled "FACT" in her brains innermost filing cabinets. Compartments labeled "FACTS" and "DATA" were all full and bursting; while others, with poorly scrawled pencil markings saying things like "MOTHER" and "FATHER", were torn open, empty, and lying on the floor.

Space, an answer provided by the "FACT" of a lack of gravity; was only the beginnings of an area code. Where in space? On what? With whom? Where was she? Why wouldn't he answer? Did he not know? Where was she?

Unaware of these backstage happenings, Jillian was growing ever more alarmed each second he did not respond; until he did. The answer was a question; however, and one that did little to ease her mind.
Was she all right?
At this point she was unsure.

She was a floating, frail doll in a tin can with all the personal recollection of a child's plaything. There was a strange, alarmingly large man trapping her, (or trapped with her?) and to add to all this she was beginning to feel as though she might vomit at any moment.

And vomit she did.
Perhaps that was a response in and of itself.

removed