“Space? We’re… in space?” Three’s eyes were wide as she heard the news, uncertain whether or not the others were serious as she sat over Seven, unable to leave her side “You’re sure?”

“I mean, I’d have to watch the stars for awhile to confirm it.” Two admitted, trying not to turn her vision upward at the dizzying scene again “But that’s the most likely answer. You wouldn’t like any of the other possibilities either.”

Five still stared up at them, sighing and fidgeting as she watched the stars twist by, mesmerized by the insane revelation.

“Well, that answers where we are.” Two mumbled, closing her eyes to think “And who we are, if the files on the machines are anything to go by. If they’re roles, then we must have been chosen for our skills for some sort of mission.” she concluded, scratching her head at the frustration of the mystery.

“Alright, miss recon, how about you find us some more information.” Five crossed her arms and muttered in monotone, her eyes still fixed upward.

“I think I liked Two better.” Two scoffed as she stepped away from the railing. She was right though. If she was supposed to be the one exploring things, she should get on that. “First thing’s first, let’s see what roles are… missing.” she didn’t want to say that they were dead, even though that much was obvious. She walked up to Four’s chamber, being careful not to look inside as she plugged into the computer.

“… ‘Survival’.” she gulped at the implication that that was someone they needed, and she was gone. Five let out a sudden guffaw as she spoke, earning an angry look from Two “What are you laughing about?”

“Nothing, she’s just… pretty bad at her job is all…” Five was halfway through saying it when she realized how inappropriate the joke was and she went quiet “I’ll uh… I’ll look over here.” her face was red with embarrassment as she walked toward the lab area.

Two shook off the comment and unhooked from Four’s chamber, turning around and sidling past to go to One’s. She had been kind of afraid to find out what this one said, but she wasn’t even sure if it would work. The electronics on this chamber had been turned off, after all. Sure enough, when she plugged into it, nothing happened. Clicking her tongue again, she went to examine the panel itself. It looked like it was solidly built, and following the cables didn’t get very far since they went into holes in the floor. She did notice that the chambers didn’t seem to be part of the original design of the room though. They had definitely been built here after the fact. But they were made of shaped metal, plastic, and glass. That meant there had to be a way to manufacture items like this on the station. It would make more sense than having it shipped from Earth. There was definitely nothing in the room that was big enough for a job like that though.

She shook her head, that wasn’t the key issue here. She wondered if maybe there was just a loose wire or something stuck just out of place. “Well, what do I have to lose?” she held up her fist over the panel and brought it down to gently smack the electronics. As if on cue, the lights shuddered to life, and the slate started to display new files “Well damn, that actually…” she paused, her expression turning down again. There was way more information in this one, still unreadable computer nonsense, but these files had more detail to them. She let out a disappointed sigh as she saw the label “’Leader’.” she grumbled before she unhooked the slate again.

Unhooking the computer seemed to trigger something else, though. The machinery started to whirr and churn, and Two had to back away as an unfamiliar rancid stench started coming from the chamber. The water inside was starting to drain, but that didn’t make it any easier to see what was inside. The glass was caked with some kind of solid organic matter.

“What was that?” Three asked from down the hall before letting out a disgusted cry “Eugh! What is THAT!?” she coughed as the scent wafted down the room. Two fumbled with the Slate for a few moments, wondering if there was something she could do to stop it before she tried pushing the panel back up out of place again. The mechanical sounds stopped immediately as the computer shut off again, but the smell lingered, and it didn’t seem like it was going to go away again now.

“That… That’s One.” Two coughed, stepping quickly away to the lab side of the room with Five, where the smell wasn’t as bad before she continued “She… She’s dead. She must just be rotting in there. Her room malfunctioned at some point.”

Three peeked out of Seven’s door and looked around “Are you telling me there’s sewage flowing into the room now?” she demanded, her brow creased in anger.

“I stopped it, the door didn’t actually open.” Two waved her hands in protest. It still smelled awful though. “I think One was supposed to know what was going on here… so I guess we’ll have to figure it out ourselves.”

Three sighed “Okay, well sitting here isn’t going to help anyway.” she wretched a little, having to endure the scent for Seven’s sake, who wasn’t happy with the experience either. “We need to get Seven real bandages and disinfectant. Then we can move her out of here and figure out what to do next.”

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Two turned to Five and exhaled deeply “Alright… I need help with the door. Let’s see if there’s… I dunno, an infirmary outside or something.”

“Outside? Like in space?” Five looked at Two like she was crazy.

Two narrowed her eyes at her, uncertain if Five was being serious now or not “You’re… not very bright, are you? There wouldn’t just be a door between us and space. Think.”

There was a momentary pause before Five said “Shut up, I just got confused” as she walked to the door, still uncertain. She leaned into the metal door and hesitated when she found it harder to push than she expected. She tried to pull on it next, and after a moment, it gave way with a quiet ‘clunk’. She still had to keep pulling though, while two came to help pull from the new crack in the door. The door opened into the surrounding wall, sliding to the side but what they saw next didn’t inspire confidence. The light from within the room shined out to illuminate a section of hallway, but beyond that, there were no artificial lights, only the occasional reflected sunlight of the nearby planet shining through windows in the ceiling.

Poking her head out into the hall, Two was overcome with a wave of nausea, feeling like her body was being pulled in two directions. She closed her eyes in an effort to keep the nausea at bay. She had to back up into the room and shake her head. “What’s wrong?” Five asked “It’s not actually empty space out there, is it?”

“What? No, just…” Two grimaced as she reached a hand through the portal this time. It was difficult to describe, but it felt confusing to her sense of balance. She gulped, wondering if this was safe, but they couldn’t just stay in the room forever. She closed her eyes and took a step through the door, feeling the strange sensation once more, but once she was fully immersed in it, it was like it was never there. She opened her eyes again and looked around as best she could in the limited light “Okay… weird.” she noted that the room was curved upward in both directions, like she was standing on the outside of a ring. When she looked back in the room at Five, she could see she was standing at an awkward angle “Oh!” Two finally put it together “Gravity! We’re in space, so there’s different fields of artificial gravity.”

Five hesitated and then stepped through after and almost stumbled back in before she hopped to the new floor and got her bearings “Whoa. This is weird.”

“It’ll take some getting used to, yeah. For now, let’s just try to find medical.” She held up the slate in front of her, letting the faint light it cast shine over the hall and illuminate what the stars wouldn’t. A number of doors lined the walls, but they were all clearly marked. Many around them were labs just like the one they’d left, but as they walked around the ring, they saw dormitories, the way to a utilities room, a helm, and finally “Infirmary!” Two shouted as she pointed the light to a faintly stenciled cross on the wall with the words ‘Infirmary’ printed beneath it.

Five followed along quietly, not wanting to wander off on her own without her own light. She stopped at the infirmary door and nodded to Two, starting to heave the large metal door open by hand again. This one didn’t stick as hard and pulled to the side with ease. A faint dust emanated from the room as it opened. Some supplies were scattered across the floor, but the walls were lined with far more than they would ever need. Several bottles with blank labels lay empty next to a loose pile of clothes at the back end of the room, but there were numerous first aid kits on the beds of the room.

Two closed her eyes and stepped in, figuring it was the best way to fend off the change of gravity fields, and only stumbled a little reorienting herself. Five, however, tripped through the doorway behind her and ended up groaning on the floor “Augh… I’m gonna be sick.”

“Better get used to it, I don’t think we’re getting off this thing soon.” Two warned, opening up one of the kits to examine it. All the labels were completely blank for some reason, but they were almost full to the brim. “I don’t know how much of this stuff she’ll need. Here, you take two, I’ll take two.” she said, putting the boxes on top of each other while Five finished picking herself up off the floor.

It didn’t take long for the two to make their way back with the kits in hand, and they were displeased to find the smell of rot permeating the room by now. As two stepped through the door, she couldn’t help herself. She doubled over from the scent and the disparity of gravity, dropping the boxes as she wretched, her gut emptying a clear liquid out onto the floor as she threw up on one of the kits. She shivered on all fours, trying to collect herself, but the feeling of disgust wouldn’t leave her.

“Better get used to it…” Five mumbled mockingly as she stepped past her, holding her nose with one hand and carrying the medical supplies under one arm. “Think you can patch her up with this?” she called as she walked up to Seven’s chamber and slid a box across the ground to her.

It just took a moment before three replied “Perfect, actually. I can’t stand to be in this room another minute though. I’ll help her move once I get this covered.”

Two managed to get back to her feet, collecting the spilled supplies again and ignoring the clear bile on the floor for now “Ugh…” she put the kits down on a lab table and closed her eyes to step back out of the room again. “Alright.” she muttered to herself “Seven’s safe. What’s next? Survival I guess.” she threw her arms out to the side in frustration “Four’s… gone, so we’ll just have to figure that out ourselves. What do you need to survive… shelter. Got that, or we’d be in space right now.” she started walking down the hall, shining her slate to look at the markings on the wall again. They were just barely visible when she really looked at them “Food and water… Well, there’s gotta be something, we’ve survived this long…” she scratched her head as she passed the dormitories “Power… maybe get the lights on. Must be something wrong with the generator if only that one room’s lit up.”

She stopped as she reached a window, this one the full side of the room, and she couldn’t help but stare out into the vast emptiness surrounding them. It was both terrifying and beautiful at the same time, but she knew she didn’t have the luxury to admire it for too long right now. For all she knew, they were all in grave danger of this place falling apart. They had to get their bearings on this station and figure out what was happening, and soon.