Chapter Two

I don't remember much about the next two or three- or maybe four- days following this rather shocking development, just that I spent a lot of time looking out the window at the expanse of nothingness. The window reminded me of the giant plate-glass window looking into the open ocean habitat of the Georgia Aquarium the one time I visited, except that there weren't any animals to see. 

The day that I was able to leave my room- vaguely resigned rather than blank with shock- I wandered around who knows how many levels to find a restaurant or something when I found myself in the eerily-silent room of pods. To keep from getting too creeped out I reminded myself that everyone that was currently still asleep would be waking up eventually and these weren't just coffins. The lights on the ceiling moved with me as I walked, and I giggled as I subconsciously compared it to the freezer aisles at the grocery store. However, my neck tingled as I involuntarily kept glancing back at the wall of darkness, feeling like something was about to leap out and grab me (man, zombies are annoying). 

"Spock," I said.

"Yes," was the response.

"Can we, um, illuminate the entire chamber?"

And the entire chamber was illuminated.

I lost track of how long I'd been wandering through the tangled maze when I came across four pods- or, what should've been four pods, but one of them was missing. After a minute, I realized why- the remaining three pods were my family. I placed my hand on Millie's pod- where her cheek would be- and glanced at her for a while. Unlike the lovable, rambunctious little dust devil she could be when awake, she looked almost angelic while asleep. I wanted desperately to pull the lever to open her pod but I realized that would be a jerk move- or prat move, as she would say.

And did. 

Often- and just to me, no one else. 

Clear as day, I could hear her say, "don't be a prat, Kelsey," in that adorably bad British accent of hers- the one that she thinks makes her sound like James Bond but in actuality made her sound like Austin Powers (cheesy series of films, but Millie and I loved them). 

I realized that I was living the plot of the first Austin Powers film- woken up from cryosleep, except that there weren't any enemies to battle. Well, except for figuring out why I was woken up too early.

Make that way, way too early.

I decided to move on to some other pods (if I looked at my mom's pod I'd probably cry). A few rows down I noticed a girl of about my age (seventeen, not two hundred something) with the name KAYLA HALLERMAN. Glancing at her, a sense of familiarity nipped at a corner of my brain- almost like I already knew her from years and years ago. Or maybe it was the fact that I was sort of in love with her- ridiculous, I know, given that I'd only been staring at her for, what, a minute? - and I just wanted that "already knew her" thing to be true. I almost pulled the lever to open her pod but, again, was stopped by a little voice in my head in Millie's British accent saying, "don't be a prat".

Glancing around at the too-orderly rows of pods, I started to get creeped out again despite the fact that it was completely lit. I decided I needed to find a restaurant or something to clear my head.

I instead found a bar. I almost didn't go in, remembering that I wasn't yet the legal drinking age.

Then I remembered that, technically, anyone could see that my ID said a birthday that was now two centuries in the past and I thought, heck with it. 

I opened an ornate gold-patterned door and made a beeline for the bar. It's a common movie/TV show trope for bartenders to listen to the problems of their patrons (here's to you, Cheers!), but after glancing left and right my hopes of getting someone other than Spock to talk to were dashed.

Or so I thought.

Just as I was just about off the stool and heading back to my suite, a gold-plated man (robot, Kelsey, robot!) glided around from a service door. 

"Hello," he said.

I've already named an AI voice on this weird little voyage, so I wasn't flustered. 

"Hi," I responded.

"What's your name?" the robot asked.

"Kelsey," I said, "what's yours?"

After a pause, the robot responded, "Michael". 

I only wondered about the pause an hour or so after meeting him. Was he not programmed to be used to people being nice? Being a bartender must suck sometimes.

"Can I get something started for you?" robot-Michael asked. 

I tried to think back and remember what my parents got when we went to fancy restaurants but got nowhere. "What are your recommendations?" I asked. 

Michael (I mean, I was already calling the ship's AI Spock, after all, so calling him robot-Michael seemed off) responded, "I can make an Old Fashioned, a lemon drop, a margarita- really, whatever you want".

I wasn't going to doubt his memory skills, and I remembered that my dad adored Old Fashioneds, so I responded, "an Old Fashioned sounds lovely". 

"Coming right up, Kelsey".

While he made the drink, I worked up the courage to ask, "can I ask you something?". 

"Fire away".

"Why was I woken up too early?"

For the weirdest moment, Michael seemed to glitch, as his hands froze while making the drink and he muttered "98. 98. 98" under his breath.

After a very confused pause, I asked, "what?".

Michael unfroze, continued making the drink and responded like nothing had happened, "I don't know why you were woken up too early," before handing me the drink.

The entire time I enjoyed the Old Fashioned, I had an urge to get back to my suite as fast as possible (but not before paying).

I didn't think my night would get weirder after that, but it did. After a dinner at one of the sushi restaurants, where I ate my weight and then some in tuna/avocado rolls and California rolls, I was just about to doze off when- slightly against my better judgement- I asked, "Spock?". Spock was just as awake as ever and responded, "yes?". 

"What does 98 mean?". 

"What do you mean?"

"What does 98 mean?"

After a brief pause, Spock responded, "I'm sorry. I don't understand your question. If there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know. Have a good night!".

Like I'm gonna get any sleep now.