Ashriel had been helping her other officers, but even they had to notice when their chief stumbled again, they steadied her as she seemed to take several deep breaths, staring around at the ship as everything began to run in reverse, but much quicker this time. The officers running back, and even herself, that copy image of herself speaking to the soldiers. For a moment she watched as she spoke to her soldiers again, once again giving them their pep talk and sending them on their way, but then everything reversed even further.

The men fell back into their capsules which froze over again, and it continued to go further and further back, suddenly she watched the wrold about her shake and rumble, pieces of drebris flying back to their places, cryotubes uncracking, life signs returning in those that had failed and died.

Ashriel couldnt take it, it wasn't making sense. She broke away from the men supporting her and stumbled away a second, turning then and smashing her arm against the wal, forcing out a resounding bang through the the steel, at the same time causing her personal pain. It would probably bruise.

When the pain occurred though, everything returned to what was now normal. Her fellow colleagues were staring at her worriedly but she straightened ehrself out again, clearing her throat,
"Get back to work.. I think I need to see the doc." She stated, they finally broke off to do so while she made her way in the direction of the medical facilities. If she didnt get this sorted out soon, she knew she'd probably go crazy, that was if she wasn't already.

After a few moments she stepped into the medical bay, though waited her turn, she calmly nursed the bruising arm, but this then reminded her of her hands, what the hell was making them so warm? she could feel the blood practically rushing in her hands and circulating in them repeatedly, over and over in the space of time it took for a regular circulation of blood to normally enter and leave.
When it was indeed her turn she stepped forward, looking to Arij,
"Doc.. I'm havin' problems. Now a bruise on the arm I aint got trouble with," She motioned to her left wrist, the same she'd smashed against the wall to end her visions, "That'll heal over, but I'm seein' things. Crazy things.. I think it's just some hallucinations, side effects of the cryos or something, I'm not expert like you.. And theres this weird thing with my hands, they're really warm, and I mean really warm, kinda like having my hands near fire to warm them up on a cold day, know what I mean..?" She offered her hands forward, they were gloved for now, but she was unaware of the torturous effect it would have if some-one touched the skin of her hands. How could she know yet?

Arij blinked and felt a frown begin to wrinkle her forehead. Ashriel admitting not not feeling well? It must be serious. It was possible that there had been an imbalance in her cryo fluids that was minor enough to not have been noticed until now, but enough to have but her internal systems off balance, possibly giving her hallucinations and a mild fever.
Arij took Ashriel's hands, but didn't remove the gloves yet. "Here Ashriel, sit. Let me give you a full physical. Was there anything unusual when you took off your cryosuit? When did this feeling begin?" Arij guided her to one of the few unoccupied beds. There were many people still arriving, but Anansii was performing at her best and more medics were slowly trickling in, she had time to devote to their chief of security. As Ashriel sat Arij pressed the back of her hand to her forehead, the mechanics not having fixed this particular bed yet.
Arij frowned a little more. "Your tempature does not seem unusual... Let me see your hands." Arij took Ashriel's left hand and pulled off her glove, placing her own hand over it. She had barely an instant to worry about the abnormally high temperature when an incredible feeling of agony ran up her arm to gather at her spine then explode through the rest of her body. With a scream she staggered backwards and collapsed, clutching at her shoulders as she sobbed.
The med bay seemed to silence in an instant, everyone still concious an able turning to look at her as she sobbed. The chief medic, screaming and crying? A nearby medic approached her and laid a hand on her back as he began to ask what happened, only to stop in midbreath as a greenish tinge crept up from his collar. His breathing became labored as he fell backwards. Arij did not even seem to notice as she shook.

When he woke, he felt pain. It was not an easy pain - it was like drowning, lungs burning, while you were being stabbed by a thousand needles, while you were set on fire, while every bone in your body was simultaneously broken and replaced with boiling mercury, and every pore wept blood, while you was stretched on the rack and watching your family murdered in front of you, all at once. His stomach roiled, and he vomited as he toppled forwards out of the just-opened cryotube onto the harsh coldness of the lab floor, and passed out.
This, unfortunately, was why he missed the meeting; during that time, he came round maybe twice, but passed out again almost immediately, curled up tight in a semi-protective fetal ball. The final time, he managed it for good; as he came round for the third time (third time lucky!), the pain dimmed a little - either people had died, or they were just getting a grip (although he didn't know that), enough for him to get to the laboratory sink to splash water on his face to revive himself a little. Owain closed his eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath. Sickness from being in the 'tubes? Why had nobody come to assist him?
Owain got a grip on himself. The welshman glanced around the lab, pushing the pain towards the back of his mind - although it was still present. The cryotubes he and his team had fitted themselves into... well, many of them were damaged.
Suffice to say, a five minute interval passed whilst he threw up whatever was left in his stomach, before his mind turned to his own salvation. He could hear nothing from the rest of the ship (which was logical enough: had he been thinking straight, he would have remembered that there were blast doors between him and the rest of the ship which would have cut out any sound that didn't come directly from the speakers), and could only presume they were in the same state, if not worse.
After a moments examination of the remaining cryotubes, he determined that the occupants would be fine for the present, while stolidly ignoring the broken ones, trying not to think of what they had been - his friends, his colleagues, people who were married and had children and friends and lovers and brothers and sisters and people who cared for them, not least himself. He considered waking the still-living for a moment, then decided against it: he didn't yet know what situation the rest of the ship was in - it might be kinder to leave them as they were for now. To be honest, Owain considered climbing back into his own 'tube before finally overcoming his own cowardice. He prepared himself, climbing into his real clothes (although the catheter was, mildly putting it, a wrench) - a nice, fresh-seeming uniform, before marching himself to the blast doors. The tall science officer looked mildly heroic, although obviously he didn't feel so; he had no idea of what was out there. For all he knew, they had been attacked by aliens or something. Pressing the thankfully intact and working button, he couldn't help but cringe a little as they opened, unsure of what would come.

Xander got up off the floor, shaking his head and trying to push away his confusion. He had always been just a bit clumsy, so he sighed and got moving again. He remembered hearing Leila walk by him earlier and he decided to ignore her comment and he kept walking. He found another door, where he believed he remembered more of the medics being placed within the room.

He tried shoving at the door, but it wouldn't budge. He tried a little harder, but still the door wouldn't budge, not even a fraction of an inch. He sighed and tried to think. "There must be debris blocking the door. I only hope the whole room isn't caved in." He suddenly felt something a little strange, he couldn't see anything, but his eyes were open, weren't they?

Xander tried opening them and recieved a response. Fog, that was all he could see. Was his vision blurry again? But as soon as he thought about it, his vision cleared. He could see as if he was looking through glass. There was a large beam blocking a doorway, and he could see other Cryo-stasis pods around him. But why could he see that? He was outside the room, wasn't he?

Next thing he knew he was staring at the door again and he stumbled backwards at the sudden switch of perspective. He blinked several times before he came to the realization that it wasn't going to happen again. He stepped forward, near the door. He had to move that beam, he simply had to find a way. He closed his eyes and tried to think. "What to do?" He asked himself softly.

He could feel something flowing through him, almost like a current, but it was soft and breezey. It felt like he could move anything, no matter how heavy it was. He tried to remember the image, but it was gone from his mind. The beam, he had to move that beam. He looked at his hands and placed them on the door, closing his eyes to concentrate. He could feel it, like trying to lift a heavy weight, or trying to lift a wrestler off the ground.

Transparent, phantom wings appeared on his back as he tried to control the feeling, but it was hard to keep concentrating. Until a moment later, he heard a loud crash from within the room. The wings faded and the feeling within him was fading. He felt a little dizzy and fell forward, pushing the door open with his weight. He noticed a beam lying on the ground, sideways. "H-how-?" He was shocked to find that it really was the same thing. "I must be out of it, this place is just falling apart." He said trying to reassure himself.

There was one medic with his eyes open and Xander began opening the pods. He told them their orders, which were issued from the Captain to be passed down to everyone else. The medics went on their way, along with one more mechanic to find Leila. Xander sighed and walked out of the room. He cringed at the sight of the mess in the hallway, which still needed to be cleaned. His head dropped to his chest and he let out his breath. "OK, where to next?" He said to himself as he walked off further down the hall.

"DOC?!" Ashriel watched the other female fall back from the shock of having touched her hand. she couldnt understand why but in that one touch she had felt some kind of transference, a passing. She moved forward as if aboutt o touch the doctor again but stopped short, looking at her bare hand and seeming to freeze. The same hand went to her own face as she got unsteady again, seeming to almost loose balance but she forced herself up and leaned against the wall.

"Well f**k me.." Ashriel whispere dunder her brath as she watched the scene replay itself before her. She watched cerefully. First the touch to her forehead, then the touch to her hand. It was only when their hands met that the doctor screamed. Yet when touching her forehead, nothing.

Ashriel appeared to be almost glued to the wall as she seemed to watch invisible figures perform something over and over until she began to understand, this warm feeling.. Something in her hands hurt the doctor. That strange, warm feeling, what had happened to her..? She pulled on her other glove, the scene fading from her mind, almost as if by her desire to check on the doctor.
She kneeled by Arij, placing her hands on the doctors shoulders,
"Doc, Doc..! I'm sorry..! I didnt realize this would happen..! I thought there was something wrong.. And.. In a way there is, but I never imagined this.. Are you alright? Please tell me you're okay..!!" Ashriel shook her very gently, just to try and get her to her senses, "You have to be okay, that man just collapsed and he needs your help, pull it together!"

Eventually Ashriel got up, staring at her own hands, what in the neame of Old Earth had happened to her? That violent reaction that the Doctor had to touching these hands... No doubt this would be reported, but now was not the time for such things. If she was to be reprimanded for it, she would wait at the security offices for it, hopefully the doc would be feeling generous after that little accident. As for Ashriel she had things to figure out.
Without further ado she took her leave swiftly, covering her face slightly with a hand.

Arij whimpered to herself as tears fell from her eyes to the cold steel deriviate beneath her. She had never experienced such AGONY. Still the aftershocks raced along beneath her skin. She felt hands on her, shaking her slightly, touching her them moving away, but it just hurt too much to acknowledge them. Finally something penetrated her haze. One of the patients screamed, and through reflexes ingrained in her after long years of being a doctor, she looked up. The first thing she saw was the man who had touched her and fallen was being hauled to a nearby bed. Her eyes narrowed as she fought against the pain. Curse it all, people NEEDED her. Placing shaking hands against the steel floor she pushed upwards, levering herself enough that she could get her feet under her. From there she staggered to her feet, grabbing the hand of the one engineer brave or foolish enough to offer it. There was a determined look in her eyes as she forced herself over to the doctor that was now turning a most unsettling shade of green. Gritting her teeth against the still lingering pain she began to treat him, and his pulse and breathing rapidly stabalized.
The moment she was sure he would be alright she turned to scan the room, still clinging to the bed for support. Her eyes narrowed, Ashriel was not there. Looking at the engineer from before she barked "You! Fetch Ashriel here immedately, tell her that I need to see her and I was not done with her physical." He nodded and scurried off as she turned her attention to the next patient, finding her legs to be slightly steadier under her as the pain faded with time.

Ashriel froze when the engineer caught up to her, so soon? She looked back in the direction of the medical bay. She wanted to refuse, perhaps because an internal part of her was afraid of what this would result in. She'd hurt some-one innocent, undeserving, in a way unknown even to herself. But she felt compelled as a basic requirement of personal honor to comply. She was the security chief and, damn it all to hell, she wouldnt be afraid of the repercussions.

She turned on her heel, returning to the Medical Bay as swiftly as she had left. Her form strode in softly but calmly, however there was an obvious look of nervousness to her still as she gripped her hands together tight, these things were the cause of pain so it was natural they made her feel uneasy now, but mostly she looked in the direction of Arij. She couldnt apologize enough, but kept her mouth shut for now.

The only other time she'd ever felt this nervous was her first day in the army. Every living moment following it, however, she took things with a steel-nerved calmness because she had been trained from a young age, expected to be duty-bound and honorable, born to perform every requested command as flawlessly as one could. Even though she had fallen back from army service to Security detail, she preferred it to constant commands, and this way she could write the rules, for the most part, plus she still had a commanding position.
But that really didnt matter at this moment in time as she waited for some kind of judgement, holy or not. She'd deserve the worst Arij could deal out, if indeed it would occur.

Arij turned from her patient with a sigh, looking Ashriel up and down with suddenly tired eyes. She gestured to the bed she had occupied before before grabbing a disinfecting cloth and wiping her hands clean. "Sit Ashriel. I wasn't done." Approaching on still unsteady legs she perched slightly on the edge of the bed and discarded the cloth. "So your hands are warm, you keep seeing things, and touching your hands causes pain. Is there anything else that seems different since you left cryo stasis?" She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with a frown. "I've never heard of anything like this happening. I don't think there's anything in the cryo fluid that could have done this, not and not killed you anyway. If we knew what happened to the ship perhaps we could figure this out, but for now we will simply have to deal with the effects of... whatever this is. I will do my best to provide you with what you need, and will diagnose you as best I am able, but be aware that this is entirely new ground for me. Tell me, these hallucinations of yours, what are they like?" With more medics arriving by the moment, Anansii at the best Arij had ever seen her, she had time to devote to Ashriel, and apparently, it was needed. What WAS that anyway? Only now were the last little shocks of pain leaving, she felt weak and drained. But her duties to those that needed her came first, and she needed to make sure it didn't happen again, though she would be more careful about touching Ashriel from now on for certain.

Ashriel moved to the bed as suggested by the doctor, somewhat surprised that Arij was taking it in such a good stride, that momentary torture hadn't done her in as badly as Ashriel had thought. Which meant Arij had fortitude that was quite commendable, only making Ashriel feel more guilty. But she pushed that thought aside,
"Doc... We've been in cryo for almost five thousand years. God only knows who or what could've climbed aboard in all that time and tampered with us if at all, y'know..? Creepy thought but.." She raised her right hand and stared at it, "Weirder things have happened..." Ash noted it as an irony that it was proabbly true, this was about as weird as she could get, not to mention the hallucinations she'd been having.

"Well.. When I first left Cryo, I was pretty damn dizzy.. I assumed it was the failed systems, it locked me in, got out though." Ashriel started, recalling the events, "Dressed up, got the captain's orders and on my way back.. Well.. I saw myself.. Not a reflection or anything.. I was walkin' backwards, back to my room, so I followed myself there and nothing." She recalled that first event then moved on to another one in her mind,
"Next I was in the security offices. Me an' the guys were tidyin' up and things went weird again, followed my own voice back to the security cryo room, and I watched the talk I gave to my guys all over again.. But then it went back more, things started going in reverse I guess, the walls were fixin' themselves up, dead cryos were working again, my guys were alive for a sec but then I woke myself up, had to hit the wall to do it but it damn well worked.."

Ashriel stopped for a moment, now focusing on her left hand, wait a second, this thing was bound to be hurting for a lot longer than it had. Ashriel didnt soften the blow, she had to induce pain it was the only way she could think of making it stop, but now there was nothing,
"Next I was in here with you.. You touched my hand and freaked out, gave me a damn heartattack.. I was gonna touch you again, but I stopped, things went weird again, I watched it happen several times Doc.. You touched my forehead and got nothin', you touched my hand.. Well you know the rest... But you didnt know.. Well damn doc, my left hand's fine, there aint any pain, that was damn-well guaranteed to be smartin' for a day or two if I hadn't possibly broken a freakin' bone, in which case it woulda been worse." Ashriel pointed out, flexing the left hand, opening and closing it again while looking at her sternly,
"Doc.. I dont mean to sound weird, but I think you've got healing hands, and I mean literally. I touch you, you got pain, you touch me and it fixed up. Unless it's something else I'm aware in myself, I'm willing to bet I'm not the only one thats gone strange.." She steadied herself on the bed with both her hands, looking Arij's way, "As for the rest.. I think that the pain is confined to my hands since thats the only place that's warm ya know? I saw that scene enough times to come to the conclusion that that's the way it is, Doc. I'd ask you to see for yourself but I don' think you'd wanna be touching me again after that last shock."

Arij blinked as she digested that. Ashriel had good instincts, she had proven that time and time again. Pain... healing... She supposed it was possible. She glanced around the crowded med bay. Now that she thought about it, there were things happening that well... shouldn't have. None as dramatic as her encounter with Ashriel, but equipment going right when it looked beyond repair. People getting better, getting up, faster then they should have. There were things happening to be sure. She sighed and relaxed a little before admitting "That may well be. Ashriel, until we find the limits of your new... abilities and their causes I would try to avoid using them if I were you. Rest assured, we will find out what's going on. Between Owain and myself, we'll work it out." Arij groaned slightly as she realized just what this was going to mean "We'll have to find some way to test and quantify the abilities of everyone on the ship, assuming what happened to you, and quite possibly me, happened to everyone. But for now there are more pressing concerns, we are still dealing with the crew, the passengers should start being awoken soon if they aren't already." She placed a hand on the bed and used it to steady herself as she got to her feet and gave Ashriel a brief salute "And as chief officers, we both have duties that preclude personal problems. If this gives you too much trouble, don't push yourself, come rest. We still don't know what it is. But until then I trust you feel well enough to continue your duties?"

"Doc if I'm well enought o be standin and tlaking to you, I'm well enough to be getting to work, this ship wont secure itself, and as much as I trust my guys, I'm still running the safety of the ship. Dont care if are five whole millenia out of place with our time, its still my duty, same way you're doing your best for these people." She responded with a salute herself, standing fully as she did so,
"You take it easy too, no tellin' what kinda damage this thing did to you, you're still looking a bit shook up, so yeah, you may be the Doc but as your colleague its still my right to be concerned." She dropped her hand and looked for a moment at the man Arij had touched. Was her memory right? This man touched Arij while she was in pain, and he turned out bad, was it right to warn Arij about it or not? What if it caused her concern? Perhaps fear? Maybe it was just speculation, it could have been any number of reasons.

She conceded it was better to warn than to leave it unchecked, as Chief of Security all possible threats to the safety of others aboard had to be investigated or otherwise secured in some manner or form,
"Doc. After you touched me, that man touched you. I dun wanna make you go crazy bout it, but I think you had somethin' to do with that too.. You be careful too, I can't pin why it happened yet, but I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough, ya know? We're definitely in unchartered territory now." She made one final salute, "Excuse me now, you got worse cases than me to deal with." She pointed out the obvious and turned, making her way out again. this damn suit was doing her in, she didnt mind miltary uniform, but the prized clothes that had been fitted for her personally were simply begging to be worn sooner or later, plus the gloves on them were much more secure, they'd probably save her from touching anyone better than these ones were managing to do.

Arij considered that for a moment before approaching the ill man on unsteady legs. Had she caused this? There was a knot of worry knawing at the pit of her stomach. She would have to find out... but with ever more people coming in she couldn't risk it. Grabbing the gloves off the nearest injured mechanic she slipped them on. They were too big and uncomfortable to boot, but she couldn't take any chances with her "healing hands" for now. Not if they could do this as well. Then again, this man had touched her back while she had touched Ashriel with her hands, perhaps that was the cause? She thought about it for a moment before discarding the gloves and reaching out to the nearest patient. To her surprise, it seemed to be true. The man steadied under her touch, his wounds healing at an unnatural rate. She blinked and let a small smile show. This was wonderful! She could heal people... With a renewed sense of purpose she moved through the med bay, her mood improving as each crew member found themselves well enough to sit and even stand.

"Unable to initiate standard awakening procedure: cryo-fluid contaminated," intoned the computer from the small speaker set in the bulkhead above Irinei's pod on deck 6, though the occupant himself, of course, could not hear it. "Initiating back-up procedure...."

About five pods down, the hallway, on the opposite side, was one of the hull breeches the shipwide computer had mentioned. Many of the pods around Irinei's had been damaged; his own sported a long, slender piece of metal which had pierced the outside shell and cut his left leg before embedding itself in the back of the pod. By some miracle, nothing had shattered, and the computer had gone on for countless centuries flashing warning lights as it replentished the cryo-fluid that had leaked out, but Irinei's less than peaceful rest had not left him as unchanged as the others.

The man awoke still within his pod, blind and stiff for the moment as the fluid drained out. Immediately, even before his nerves awoke to the pain in his leg, Irinei sensed that something was wrong with him, and leaned close to the door of his pod, squinting and straining in an effort to see his reflection. If nothing else, he could feel a beard - though he had been joking at the itme, Irinei had asked specifically if he would need to worry about shaving while he was frozen aboard the ship.

As the level of fluid in the pod sank gradually, he found all limbs accounted for, though a throbbing pain was starting up in his leg. He gave his vision a few more minutes to adjust by disconnecting himself the rest of the way from the tubes and wires of the pod, and crossed his arms impatiently ... until there was no longer enough fluid to support him. Irinei's weight settled on his bad leg, and he shouted in pain, collapsing against the door.

Though the opening mechanism was having a bit of difficulty getting the door open with the metal rod effectively pinning the pod shut, Irinei's weight falling against the door was enough help for the machinery. The last of the cryo-fluid spilled out into the hallway, and then the electrician found himself dumped onto the floor in front of his pod with similar ceremony.

"Emergency resuscitation procedure successful. Passenger, please report to the medical bay for a full health examination, or press your pod's 'help call' button, and a med team will come to assist you shortly."

"You sound surprisingly calm about this," Irinei growled groggily at the computer voice, and moved himself to a sitting position. "I'll go myself, but not before I get dressed. Heck if anyone is going to see me in this silly skin-tight thing." He twisted around, wincing slightly, and fumbled for the key around his neck to open his locker of belongings.

In the shiny metal surface of the locker, however, the man finally got a good look at his reflection - the long hair, still gold for most of the length though it was starting to grow out white now; the similarly colored beard; the faint wrinkles that had started to form on his face due to the ship's artificial gravity....

With a horrified shriek, Irinei pounded on the "help call" button for his pod.

It was impossibly busy in the medical bay, with people flowing in and out like waves in the tide. She did her best to help those she could, but the lines kept growing, people kept coming...She could feel her calm facade begin to crack. After sending a patched up crew member on their way, she turned from the growing masses and leaned heavily against the counter, taking a few steadying breaths.

In all her years...in all her training and studying...she had never seen so much as she had in this short time. She knew this would be the stuff to haunt her in her dreams. She knew the faces of those she couldn't save...she would never forget them. Her hands and uniform were covered in blood, and the bodies of the dead were growing in number. They would run out of beds if this kept up. She tried to steady herself as her throat tightened and her eyes pricked with moisture. She wouldn't fall to pieces. She couldn't. She refused. She didn't have much choice.

Straightening up, she had just resumed her duties in helping those that she could when Arij gave a blood-curling shriek from somewhere across the room. But Ana had only gotten halfway there by the time she had straightened up and seemed better. She and, it looked like Ashriel, were talking calmly a moment later, and Anansii quickly returned to her patients. She wanted to ask, goodness knows she wanted to know what was going on, but more important things required her attention right now. Curiosity would wait.

A young man had been brought in, bleeding profusely and shaking. She knew he was in shock. She felt the sting of tears at the corners of her eyes again as the futility of her actions washed over her again. He was going to die; this boy, hardly even a man yet, was going to die. He was dying, and she could do nothing. She could feel people turning their gazes away, knew the boy's fate written across their faces, in their eyes. It hit her, wave after wave, until she could feel the tears scorching down her face in hot, livid streams. She was breathing hard, trying desperately to do all she could to stop the bleeding. Her butter cream hair fell into her eyes and she didn't bother to push it away.

'Save him...save him...save him...save him......'

She felt rather than saw the tears strike the backs of her hands as his breathing stopped beneath her touch, and she tried to blink her blurred vision away.

'No...NO!!! I won't...I can't....this isn't...happening...breathe...breathe....please, breathe...'

Her hands and arms pushed, trying to restart his heart, and she could hardly hear herself sobbing over the blood pounding in her ears. Her hands were sticky against the material of his shirt and she didn't dare look him in the eyes to see if he was gone, she just kept trying. She had to keep trying.

"Breathe...breathe...come on...breathe..."

Her hands were warm, and she didn't dare to think about all the fresh blood on them. But there...there, now...did she dare hope? A pulse? A heartbeat? She stopped, her hands shaking against the wet fabric. She slowly looked up at his face, into his eyes, as he took a shuddering gasp of breath, then another, and another. Slowly his breathing slowed and calmed and she felt her heart slide out of her throat and back down to her ribcage. He was alive. He was...he was wide-eyed and gasping, but he was alive.

A flashing light at the corner of her eyes made her look away. Someone was punching their "Help Call" button on deck 6. She turned back to delegate a nearby medic to the task when something drew her attention back to her patient. He was sitting up, staring at himself in wonder.

"Sir! Sir, you have to lie down! You have had significant blood loss and we...we still have to..."

Her words were lost into silence though, because she was seeing what had him so amazed. He was unbuttoning his shirt and beneath, where the wound had been, was nothing. The skin was unmarred. There was blood, everywhere, but it was not fresh. He wasn't bleeding. By all rights, it looked like he wasn't even injured!

"But that's...that's not..."

"Doctor, someone needs help on Deck 6. Should I send a team?"

The voice of another medic brought her attention back to the flashing light. She didn't have time to ask questions, even in impossible situations like this.

"Yes, yes of course. Go, quickly. Be careful."

No, it was not the time for questions. There were too many injured, too many dying for that. She needed to act. And so with no further thought to the small miracles around her, she went swiftly back to work.

Xander knew he had to get a grip on himself, so he kept going around from room to room, looking for, and opening any Cryo-pods that wre still generally intact. He managed to awaken several more members of the crew and send them off to work. He sighed and sank down to the floor, rubbing his head.

He felt something was wrong and he closed his eyes. Once again, when he opened them, it was as if he was looking through someone else's eyes. He could even hear the person let out a sigh, and it was a woman's voice. Xander was shocked by that, he could see himself walking down the hallway. When he could see Leila, he heard the woman's voice speak again. Talking to the Chief mecahnic about repairs.

The next thing he knew he was staring out the door again. "How in the world-?" Xander said softly as he tried to stand up. He pushed against the wall behind him and got to his feet. "OK, this is seriously strange." He said as he walked out into the hall and walked along. He eventually saw a woman talking to Leila momentarily as he passed by. He stopped dead in his tracks, looking completely shocked when he realized what he had just seen.

"This simply can't be right. How in the world would it be possible for me to see through the eyes of someone else?" He looked around. "Unless something is happening to all of us." He lifted his right hand and ran it through his dirty blonde hair. "Maybe I should talk to someone about this." He sighed. "Maybe not." He looked to the nearest door. "I should really just keep working."

With some effort, Captain Murdock managed to push the door he’d been working on open. He wasn’t in a joking mood right now, right now it was all business. He was worried for his people, his crew. So many had died, so very many. As he moved into the room he balked and placed a hand over his nose and mouth. A stench unlike anything he’d ever smelt pushed into the halls. As he looked, several cracked tubes revealed the mushy and rotted corpses of his crew.

He took a moment to get himself situated before taking in a deep breath, just as the vent broke free. He quickly moved out of the way backing up into a fallen pod. His foot landing in something quite squishy.

"Geeze, the ship is falling apart. I think that was a Carbon dioxide and air filter tank. Do you want me to run relay on all the major stations? I could check on the chief offices...."

The voice of his First officer stopped him from vomiting right then and there as he pulled his foot from the rotting corpse. “What? Oh? Um, sure, if you like.”

‘What’s going on?’ A voice from somewhere behind him caused him to turn. But there was no one there.

“What? Hello? Anyone there?” He moved further into the room, looking for the source of the voice when and other voice from the side of him spoke up.

‘Ouch, huh? Did we find a planet or something?’

He turned quickly, but there was no one. “Terralyes--- did you hear that?”

‘He had a brother….A child…That one always looked at the picture of his wife when on break…’ Upon hearing the engineer’s voice he turned again, “Simmons, you in here?”

‘Save him...save him...save him...save him...... No...NO!!! I won't...I can't....this isn't... happening... breathe... breathe....please, breathe...' Another voice had broken in.

“Doctor? Where are you?” He looked back at his First Officer, “Don’t you hear them? What is this?”

One by one, more voices broke into his mind, all overlapping, frightened, more and more, 'Where is everyone?… Oh no! …My sister!…..I hope they’re still alive…Why is the ship in ruins? …How many are dead?….Are the other ships okay…..what….can I…it is too….ridiculous…father…how can…it…we…broken…call…'

“Stop IT!” Murdock clutched his head, slowly sinking to his knees, his head was pounding, the more voices the harder it was to focus, to stand. “Shut up all of you! Damn it! Stop!! Damn, it HURTS! STOP!!!”

And it stopped.

All at once it just stopped, and he found himself lying on the ground, having blacked out for a brief moment. He sat up, putting a hand to his ear, a warm liquid dripping down it. As he moved his hand in front of him to look at his hand---blood. He was bleeding? He had been, not anymore. Slowly he stood up, looking around the room, there were no more voices. He swallowed, wiped the blood off on his uniform and straightened up his suit.

He was fine now, and these people needed him, he’d go to the doctor later. Right now, he had work to do. Without responding to anyone who may have been in the room he walked to the console that controlled these pods, pressing the ’release all’ button.

"Start at the Medical bay, see what can be done there. If everyone has that covered then head for navigation and get started on that." Leila sincerely doubted they had enough help in the medic ward, but she might as well add in the navigation suggestion. After all, helping the people was first, figuring out where they were was definitely what the captain was going to ask next.

As the mechanic saluted her and went on her way, Leila spied Xander in the corner of her eye, running a hand through his hair.

"Yo Xander, you alright?" Her voice was laced with concern. She felt responsible for the pods. Of course she had checked and double checked and even triple checked them before they even got onto the ship, so if they were sick from them then she blamed herself, even if she hadn't been able to watch after them the past five thousand years....

A gentle groan of moving steal echoed down the hallway. She blinked and looked around. It sounded like the roof of the hall wasn't very happy....

The groan grew a bit louder and she spotted it. It was already half broken, probably from the crash and hanging almost precariously, like a leaf in autumn still clinging to the branch of a tree.

You know, if a leaf weighed over 300 pounds.

And was right above Xander. Of course. It gave another groan, suddenly reminding her of her papa after thanksgiving dinner. It couldn't hold out much longer.

"Hey, watch out!" she jogged over to the man, with every intention of pushing him away, but in a moment of sheer stupidity she brought her hands out to catch the three-hundred pound metal sheet instead.

Clunk.

"Huh."

There was a minute of silence as she just stared forward, then looked up. There it was, the ceiling, in her hands. It was as light as holding Cecil!! Her logical mind couldn't seem to accept it.

"Umm....Are we dead?" She asked Xander, her eyes still wide and staring up at the possible killer.

The science laboratories were a little isolated from the rest of the ship - apparently the designers had seen one too many sci-fi films, and had prepared for whatever horror was inevitably confined in those laboratories, and would inevitably escape to haunt the crew and pick them off one by one until the last one escaped into the wilderness/outer space after somehow destroying the creature. Either that, or they really hadn't been a priority, and had been shrunk and bumped back in order to fit more people in, which, applying Occam's Razor, was the more likely explanation. So it was only in honour of the power of narrative that there was a security officer directly outside the laboratories, presumably with the object of coming in to find out the situation in the laboratories.
Torn between relief and anger, Owain grabbed the man's shoulders, shaking him; the man was so surprised he didn't resist for a moment. While this physical attack was rather out of character for Owain, we must remember that he - just like everyone else on the ship - was under considerable stress.
"For -cks sake! What the -ck is going on on this -ing ship?! Some of my staff are -ing dead!"
The officer (who was much larger and musclier then the slightly built scientist) showed remarkable forbearance at this turn of events, considering what he himself had recently seen. He gently removed Owain's hands from his shoulders, taking a little step back.
"If you'll calm down, sir..."
The officer's (one John Smithback) own feeling of calmness (to be honest, he was weirdly zen-like; probably suffering from shock or something) was starting to get to Owain, and he stepped back a little, his arms dropping to his side.
"Alright... alright, I'm calm. Now, tell me what's going on here" he drew himself up, trying to present himself as Important and Trustworthy (which he was, but not everyone might see him that way).
"Well... we've crashed, sir" the man said, helpfully.
"Crashed?"
"Crashed. And, apparently, we've been in stasis for like five thousand years"
"Five thousand years?!"
"'parently so, Sir. And I don't think repeating what I say is of much use to anyone..." Smithback said, a little doubtfully.
Owain hesitated, then his 'authority reflex' (if such a thing existed) jumped into action; he refused to think about the realities of the situation, preferring to focus on the practicalities. "Alright. Alright... I'll get the survivors on my team out of stasis... the medical bay must be stretched to breaking point, we must be able to help..." he was thinking out loud, more then anything. "I'll put someone onto seeing what the outside environment is like. Remind them to avoid cross-contamination... we don't want War of the Worlds or the Aztecs all over again..."
Smithback, seeing that the situation was all in hand, went back to find Ashriel to report back to her about the state of the scientists.

Xander looked over at Leila as she came rushing at him. It was then that he noticed the ceiling collapsing and he freaked. He screamed, louder than any of the screaming he'd done earlier today. Until he noticed the ceiling was no longer falling, but was resting peacefully upon Leila's hands. The scream died out in his throat and he stared in amazement.

"Last time I checked, I was certain that being crushed by a ceiling would cause some pain, even if only brief, temporary, before one died from it. So, seeing as I haven't felt anything of the sort, I'd like to think that we are still quite alive." He said as he tried to work out in his mind how it was even possible. He stared at the ceiling and sighed.

"As for how I was doing, before the ceiling so rudely decided to fall over me, I believe I was seeing things. Hallucinating, perhaps, but either way, something strange is going on and I want to understand what it is before it drives me insane." He said and shook his head. "Do you think you can move that to the side?" He asked, looking concerned about how it was just sitting there, waiting for any possible moment to crush the two of them.

"Uh...y-yeah. Sure." She nonchalantly tossed it to the side.

Bad idea.

It hit the wall with a considerably loud creak and let a dent before falling to the ground, making the hull shake.

"Sh*t. Sorry!" she wailed, flailing her arms.

"My poor baby! Did I hurt you even more?! Mommy is sorry!"

Yes, before you ask, she was talking to the ship.

"M-maybe you should go to the medic ward Xan?....Hallucinations don't sound like a good thing. What did you see? Unicorn? Two little twin girls asking to play with you?

Something inside her, maybe her normal joking side started to giggle. She covered her mouth. Now, she wasn't laughing at that fact he was hallucinating or anything but...

"Y-you know...you have-" snort "A really interesting scream." she bit her lip. Maybe all the stress from the ship breaking and the fact she just did something absolutely freakish was getting to her and causing her to laugh.

"And by interesting I mean girly."

Xander sighed. It was always useless talking to Leila, she always made fun of him. He looked at the ground. "It was more like seeing through the eyes of others." He said as he remembered it. "First, I was trying to get into a room, but the door was blocked, and I somehow looked through the eyes of someone in a Cryo-pod. I could see the inside of the room quite easily."

"When I finally got that door open, it was the same room I'd seen. Then I think I was looking through the eyes of that mechanic you were talking to." He shook his head. "Ugh, this just makes me sound crazy, but I swear that's what I saw." He looked at her with a pathetic look on his face. "Yes, I know. I scream like a girl." He shook his head. "It only happens when I think I'm going to die in a freak accident. Like just a minute ago."

Leila had calmed her giggles and now her shoulders just shook in laughter every once in a while. Her face grew more serious as he explained and her shivers lessened.

"You mean, like, an out of body experience?" She shrugged. "It seems practical. I mean, I just held up a giant slab of metal like it was nothing, theirs a possibility that you are actually doing that. Right?"

Her face turned guilty when he spoke about his scream and she poked her gloved index fingers together, swaying from side to side.

"You're right. I'm sorry." Why is it whenever Xander was around she had the urge to tease him mercilessly?

"You want to come with me to the medical ward anyway? Maybe freaky things like this are happening to people as well?"

Xander shook his head. "Not exactly, out of body, but more like I'm just seeing through someone else's eyes. I can't quite explain it, but I suppose I should get it checked out." He said. "And it all happened before the ceiling fell." He looked at her.

"I think I also did something else, but I can't remember what it was. It felt like I was moving something heavy that I couldn't see. That was when I opened that blocked door. I don't know, I supposed I might as well explain it when I get to the Medical Ward." He said with a sigh.

Leila went to pat his back in sympathy, but stopped short just before her hand met his back, recalling his 'no touching!' policy.

"Well, let's go. I'm sure they'll understand it better then I would." They walked down the hall and to the medical ward, where there was talk of what happened before with Ashriel and the doctor.

Fear shot up her spine in a cold rush as she looked around, she spotted a mechanic who was standing by his wife who was in a gurney, smiling and seemingly well.

"I'm glad to see your wife is alright." Her voice held sincerity and a bright grin blossomed on her face. It ebbed the fear to see such a happy scene. "What happened here?"

They explained the miracles that were happening around Co-chief medic and the scream of the other one just a short while ago, people thought that it was because of Ashriel.

Sh*t. Double sh*t. What was going on?!

"Did she leave the ward?" without realizing it, her tone had turned a little nervous. Her subordinate looked at her with sympathy.

"She left a little while ago. I'm sorry Sparky, I'll head back to work now."

"It's alright. Thanks, you go do that." she patted the womans hand and gave another grin. "Your husband is a great man." Leila saw the woman'ss smile for just a second before she turned on her heal to leave, this time patting Xanders back.

"Good luck buddy. I need to go back to the cryo-tubes."

Though in truth she was running off to check up on the blonde, braided ice queen, but no one had to know that but her.

Ashriel had made her way back to her cryo-stasis room and was again changing uniform, removing the military one for the more favoured and comfortable suit she'd had fitted for herself. Its exquisite materials were perfectly intact, and it perfectly accented her form jsut as it did the last time she wore it, her weapons weren't available, she'd left those in the security offices.
By the time Leila was nearby the entire suit was on, Ashriel tightening the secure strings on either side then adjusting her currently loose hair, it still hadn't been secured correctly. However once Leila came into view she stared at the engineer, seeming frozen in place for a minute before grinning a little,
"Care to give me a hand here, Leila?" Ashriel requested, thumbing back to the ponytail. Her help braiding it correctly would certainly be appreciated otherwise she would have to mete it out herself with a little difficulty, it was alot to manage afterall.

She wasn't prepared to state just yet what she'd done to make the Chief Medic react in the way she did, it was unintentional, mostly because she never know it would happen. Then there were those hallucinations, and her arm being healed, talk of others maybe developing powers too, what if Leila had contracted some kind of power also?
She was a little curious as to what Leila had recieved, if anything at all, it was probably nothing like she imagined. Ashriel made sure her gloves were secure, though checkeed the clips that held the sleeves to the hands of the gloves, it was an interesting innovation that she could remove the gloves without taking off the sleeves. For some reason it felt ironic at best that she should recieve such a curse. She was still confident that Leila could touch anything other than her hands,
"I was thinking.. Well.. You know the first thing I actually remembered when I woke up? That little goodnight kiss we had..." Ashriel grinned a little, "I think we were both a bit nervous about the whole cryofreeze thing, but who would've thought all this would happen..?"