SOMEWHERE -- ??:?? 4153

The calm and rather lifeless atmosphere of nothingness in deep space is suddenly interrupted by a sudden burst of bright lights followed by a concussive force.  As if appearing from out of nowhere an object is thrown from the twisting and shimmering lights that begin to collapse in on its self in an instance.  Inside the seemingly fused-together heap of twisted metal, sparking wires and leaking fluid is two bodies seemingly tangled together and lifeless.

A dread, almost deafening silence fills the tiny space. 

If not for the subtle almost imperceptible sounds of faint raspy breathing, not even the air inside would be moving – and yet, as with all miracles, and all beginnings, the faint memory of a new beginning stirs within. 

Slowly, a body begins to move…

Pain -- a slight jerk as one of the bodies begins to shake, as if trying to remember something.  In an almost laborious exercise, the ever disappearing silence is slowly replaced by the growing gasps for air – what air is left, anyways.  Before long the sounds of breathing settle to a regular rhythm followed shortly by…

“My…My head.  Hu… hurts, Ow.”  The body twists and jerks. “Where…where… am I? Ahhh, my head…”  Sharp pains begin shooting through the back of the head, images full of meaning yet no words or understanding of what they are begin to engulf the mind – panic beings to set in as if being assaulted by something unknown and sinister.  “Ahh… s-save me… Arlen….”  The pain being too much to bear passes out again, bringing an almost sickening silence to the tiny space. 

A slight, raspy breathing can still be heard.

An unknown time later the silence is broken by a sudden jerk followed by a sudden influx of ever evaporating air into the lungs -- another jerk, another movement of the body testing the limits of a prison seemingly surrounding the endless darkness of this tiny universe.

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 “W-where am I?  What…what happened to me….? Can’t, can’t… move.  My… my head, ah, Ow.”  Pain, nothing but pain, flashes of lights and unrecognizable images assault the senses.  “Wh-what… Who?  Who… who… am I?  Ah…”  The dizzying array of sounds and images threatens to spiral out of control before suddenly, the weightless motion of drifting in space comes to a sudden halt – the body recognizing instantly.  “W…wh…whats going on? Hello…Hello?”  A slight muffled sound can be heard outside the endless darkness. 

Before any more words can be uttered, the decaying and dying sounds of a computer summoning the last of its energy can be heard faintly in the background -- “….warning…oxygen levels at 1%...” -- seemingly powering down after finishing its sentence. 

A slight pause before trembling begins to overtake the body while the fear and realization of suffocating slowly takes over, thinking “I need to get out of here before I die.  Die.  Die….”

The feeling of another sudden stop momentarily interrupts the panicked state, followed shortly by a rapid increase in breathing.  Sometime later, an unexpected shift followed another sudden series of movements are accompanied by more rapid breathing on the verge of hyperventilation as bewilderment, horror and the very real, almost tangible taste of dying begins to seep in and overwhelm the senses.  “G-guh…got to… get out of here.” 

What once seemed like a prison incapable of moving, slowly began to shift and move.  The creaking and moaning of worn out metal  – the seemingly tiny universe expanding more and more, one movement here, another shift there.  Yet no matter how much the body responded and moved, the feelings of death and dying began to slowly take over once more. 

Eventually a torrent of emotions spills forth as the feeling of life slipping away begins to overcome the body.  No.  No.  No.  No.  The singular thought repeating ever louder inside the mind as if repeating a mantra – and suddenly, as if summoned from the seemingly endless void of space that had spawned this prison, a brief flash of red; anger -- hatred…  A scream -- one that can only be described as an animalistic… almost unnatural shriek rang out.