“Hmm, ‘Emergency power systems off-line.’ We’ll see.” Falkier punched a few buttons and red lights appeared up and down the hall. “That worked.” He took another look at the panel and tried to open the nearby door. After a few moments it hissed and opened about six inches and stopped, hung. ‘Error: Primary power buffer overloaded. Severing primary power coupler.’ The speech was Greek but Falkier understood as well as if it was English. Falkier looked through the maintenance system and noticed several programs of the same name with slight variations. After accessing one, he discovered that this door hanging without opening fully was a common thing. A footnote was attached saying ‘Engage secondary power buffer. Switch primary power coupler to tertiary power coupler and engage secondary power coupler to emergency repair diagnosis. Tertiary power buffer should be switched to tertiary power coupler to even out power loss and operate at maximum efficiency.’ Falkier worked through the maintenance systems and found the power router. He followed the instructions, rerouting power to the respective coupler and buffers. The panel beeped and the door’s servos strained to open, but open it did. Inside was a room with glass on the far wall and electronic instruments below it. On the walls, several what looked like cabinets that opened with the door swinging down. Falkier had a closer look and saw they were empty except for a small white object. When Falkier felt it, he figured it was a pillow and these were sleeping chambers. The rest of the room was fairly open, it had two levels, three seats on the first and three on the second. The two on the outside on the first level had panels that swung up to allow access, as did the three on the second level.

All six explored the cockpit but when they neared the middle seat on the first level, Sam fell and started scrambling back, cursing.

“Something is sitting in it!!!” he said, still backing up. Falkier raised his gun and neared the seat. He turned the seat with his left hand and held the gun with his right and jumped back as it swung around. Sure enough, a green-skinned creature was sitting in it. It had this skin, almost like scales but melded together so you could run your finger either way. He had ridges above his eyes which were closed. He was a line of small horns running down the middle of the top of his head. He was slumped over held back by restraints that looked liked they snapped on the lower portion and tightened around his neck. Falkier knocked his head with the barrel of his gun and it moved slightly.