Now in its sixteenth variation, SIF had officially been renamed SF016. From the moment when James Cowan took over responsibility for the program, efforts had been made to further automate the systems in hopes of creating an entirely automated sleep process.

There had been no further failures – until today.

Chapter Four

DAY 1075

Cowan stared into the now-empty capsule, noticing a large, light brown stain on the right side. The dried stain darkened the sheet covering the gel-filled mattress Rhonda Miller had slept on and further investigation revealed residue under the sheet had also spread onto the mattress, making it appear as if something had been spilled onto the sheet.

“Mr. Cowan, what's that on the sheet?” asked one of the technicians.

“I'm not sure yet. It certainly wasn't like this when the experiment started,” Cowan answered.

The sheet and mattress were removed and sent to the lab for testing, while the rest of the capsule was carefully examined. On the flat surface inside the capsule, where the mattress had rested, was a detachable door. This led to the electronics compartment where much of the medical monitoring equipment, and the capsule's life support computers were installed. There was evidence of the same contaminant all around the door to the electronics bay and when the door was removed, there was a strong smell of burnt electronics. The life support computer rested just inside the compartment. Clearly, there'd been a serious short circuit and a small fire inside the compartment. “Well, this appears to be where it all went wrong,” the technician said. “It seems the same contaminant that was under the mattress got in here and shorted it out.”

Cowan got up to leave. “Get the computer to the lab and have it checked, I want to know exactly what caused this. I'm heading to the infirmary. I think I know what happened here.”

“What are you thinking?” asked the technician.

Cowan turned back to glance at the other man. “I think that stuff is blood.”

Two hours later, James Cowan stepped into Colonel Fitch's office. “Hey Matt, have you got a minute? I want to give you the preliminary report.” He was the only one in the center who would even consider calling Colonel Fitch by his first name while in the office.

“Sure James, come in. What a crazy morning. I was so sure there would be no problems, and now this. Please tell me you've got good news.”