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Chapter 29
As the women of Sol3a were being prepared to establish their colony, Allison Mead remained in stasis. Months went by as the Thallaxapod cruised further and further from the Forgwin system with its cargo of accused traitors.
Hanging suspended in the glutinous gel of the stasis tube, naked, Mead was dimly aware of the world around her, but acutely aware of the passing of time. She was partly conscious, able to sense in some respects, but unable to move – no thought could stir her muscles. Through the gel she sensed brightness as lights came on in the tube chamber.
She felt a change in the air being pumped to her mask and a curious, cold, sensation in the vein where the stasis drugs were introduced. Slowly, full consciousness began to return and as it did so she felt the stasis gel draining out of the tube. As the level of the gel fell, she drifted down in the tube. Unable to support herself after what seemed like an eternity in stasis, she collapsed against the side. The last of the gel slid away and Mead watched helplessly from the floor of the tube as the door in front of her opened.
Hands reached into the tube, disconnecting Mead from the breathing, feeding and drug tubes, and pulling her out. Two men in white laboratory coats supported her as she tried, unsuccessfully, to walk. They steered her to a shower cubicle at the far end of the tube hall and helped her inside. She collapsed in the tray of the shower. They looked at her impassively and hosed the remains of the gel from her body. She coughed, unused to breathing without the assistance of the mask that had fed her oxygen for the preceding months. There was no towel for her but once the shower had finished one of the men tossed a shirt to her. Still unable to stand without assistance, she sat in the well of the shower as she pulled the shirt on and tried to cover her nakedness. She realised the shirt had no fastenings. It took up the wetness from her body and clung to it.
Without a word, the men pulled her to her feet and dragged her from the shower. She was half pulled, half carried from the tube hall, across a corridor and into a brightly lit room. The men took Mead to the centre of the room and laid her on the leather covered couch that stood there. Mead collapsed weakly onto it, blinking in the bright light.
"Here, there is a drink for you." Mead heard a woman's voice from behind and a glass of pale brown liquid was passed to her. "Don't worry it is only a glucose mixture. You will need something as the effect of the stasis chemicals wears off."
She took the glass unsteadily in both hands and took a sip. The liquid was warm and sweet.
"Good. You will feel better for that." As Mead sipped at the drink the woman walked around the couch. She turned to the men. "Thank you, gentlemen, I'll take over now."
Mead looked at the woman. She was wearing a Federation military uniform; the same grey trousers and shirt worn by the men that had pulled Mead from the stasis tube. She saw that the woman wore the insignia of a captain.
"How do you feel?"
"Shaky, slightly sick, hungover."
"Hmm, that's normal. The glucose will help. Sit still. It will feel easier in a few minutes. The effects of stasis take some time to clear. While you recover let me introduce myself. I am Captain Jarrin Tarn of the Federation Intelligence Corps. I am responsible for assessing your defence. You do recall why you were in stasis, don't you?"
"Uhh, oh, yes" Mead answered trying to shake the after effects of the drugs from her system.
"Good that will make things easier.
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