The warning klaxons blared piercingly amid the dull roar of poorly muffled engines. Red warning lights strobed like miniature pulsars, flooding the otherwise dark cabin in intermittent crimson.
"Nuts. What's it this time?"
Kai groaned as he sat up in his recliner, groping about the myriad of consoles that lay sprawled around him. In the darkness, the lights from the buttons of his various consoles gleamed like a sea of stars, punctuated by the blinding flashes of the red alert strobes. Thoroughly dazed, blinded, and deafened, Kai reached down below his arm rest and fished around for his trusty crowbar. Eyes locked shut, he blindly pummeled everything within his arms reach, finally stopping as the klaxons ceased, the warning lights died, and the cabin was enveloped in total darkness and silence, interrupted only by the occasional sound and light of sparks, and the slight smell of smoke from a broken console.
Enjoying a moment of blissful calmness, Kai lay back into his recliner and relaxed only to be drowned in the retardant foam of the fire suppression system.
"Oi, wake up you lazy bastard," said something in Kai's voice,
"I've rigged the recliner pressure sensors with the snooze. If you don't get up off the chair in five seconds, I'm going to start singing."
Kai bolted from his seat and clumsily stood up.
"And God said let there be light," said the voice.
A door slid open, flooding the cabin with the bright light from the hallway.
"Good. Now that you're up, do you remember where you are and what you're here for?"
Kai shook his head.
"Of course you don't. You've been in a chemically induced hibernation for the better part of three weeks."
The voice continued.
"You're on call from Miss Eva. She wanted mining machines for that project of hers in whatsisface Kansas."
Kai squinted at the bright light flooding in from the hallway.
"Screw it, I'll explain later. Bathroom is the first door on your left, and there's pancakes in the fridge in the room to the right. The third door is to the cockpit, go there after you're done to hear the rest of what you've got to say to yourself."
* * *
Properly dressed, fed, and cleaned, Kai walked into the cockpit of the ship. Through the viewport, a pale white sphere glowed as it appeared to slowly grow ever larger. In front was a pilot chair with a postit note reading "push me" taped to a button on the armrest. Kai sat down and pressed the button.
"Good, you should be near Colby now. Just park in geosynchronous orbit, and Miss Eva should take the load. After that, clean up the cabin, sit in the recliner, and the pills I put into the pancakes should put you out again for the trip back."
Kai coughed loudly.
"It's not like I like doing this every single time, but we're too broke for a cryo chamber and we're too cheap for an AI."
Taking the controls in his hands, Kai nudged his ship into orbit around Colby and waited.
