Just before losing consciousness, RJ Anderson became aware of two things. First, she was lying naked on an extremely cold metal floor, with her face resting in a warm pool of her own foul vomit.

Second, something was very wrong.

Chapter Thirty-Six

RJ's eyes opened slowly, and again she was confused. She was extremely cold, her face seemed to be stuck to the floor, and she hurt all over. For more than a minute she didn't move. Slowly, she remembered.

She peeled her face from the floor and noticed the vomit had mostly dried. She'd obviously been out for a long while. She sat up carefully, again experiencing some dizziness and nausea. Fortunately, it wasn't as intense this time.

She crawled to the capsule and opened the small built-in drawer underneath with trembling fingers, removing her undergarments and jumpsuit. While sitting on the freezing floor, she dressed as quickly as possible.

She fought to stand and found the dizziness and nausea returning. She fought them both back as best she could and attempted to walk. She quickly discovered she needed to hold onto the wall or some other object to keep from falling.

She kept trying to think of possible reasons why she felt this sick. Two things came to mind. There was a radiation leak in the reactor or a contaminant in the SF016. Either one would be disastrous for her mission.

She started out for the command center; questions flooding her mind. On the way, she stopped at a restroom taking a few minutes to clean as much vomit from her face and hair as she could. She rinsed her mouth out and then drank a little water. She could tell she was dehydrated and assumed much of her dizziness was related to this. She needed to go slowly, the nausea was still there, and she did not want to take a chance on it getting worse by drinking too fast.

She stumbled out of the restroom and crossed the hall to the health center. The pain in her joints was increasing with each movement. She located what she was looking for and quickly swallowed down 800mg of Ibuprofen, with a little more water.

She half stumbled from the health center and continued down the hall. Her balance was better, but she stayed close to the wall in case she needed it. She placed her palm on the scanner and heard the electronic voice. “Good Afternoon Miss Anderson.” The computer voice seemed incredibly loud.

RJ walked unsteadily to a computer terminal and sat down with a thud. She rested for a moment then started activating the equipment. As she was working, she heard a faint noise by the door she'd entered through. She spun around so quickly she almost fell off the chair.

Someone was standing there.