A sharp hissing sound jolted her awake from a hazy dream-like state. Her eyes fluttered open only to be blinded by a bluish silvery light. She immediately squeezed them shut again, feeling her head pounding in sync with her pulse. Eyes still closed, she reached up to rub her temples for a moment as she sat up. Her body felt cold and unfamiliar. Shivering slightly, she dared to open her eyes again, slowly this time. It felt like tiny needles were pricking her retinas, but she blinked a few times and soon realized that the light was actually very dim. She was hardly able to see her surroundings.

Where am I?

The room appeared to be some sort of cryo-sleep chamber. Tiny green indicator bulbs flashed in the near-darkness all around, above hundreds of cryo-pods. All of them but hers were closed - the tempered glass was so frosted that she could hardly make out the silhouettes of the people inside. She turned her gaze toward the pod that she was sitting in and frowned at the indicator bulb that flashed red above hers. There was a small screen with an error code blinking over a name that she didn't recognize and she stiffened, her head aching sharply.

V. Terra

She wondered if that was really her name. Why couldn't she remember anything? She trembled, now from fear rather than the chill that still clung to her bare skin. Her stomach twisted in knots as she slung her numb legs over the side of her pod, and carefully climbed out. Something was very wrong. The ground underneath her didn't feel solid beneath her feet. She swayed slightly, worried the floor would crumble away and cause her to fall into an empty chasm. But she knew that she had to figure out what was going on. The sensation had to be a form of extreme jet-lag from cryo-sleep, she told herself. As she made her way toward the door, she caught a glimpse of her reflection on a pane of iridescent glass and froze.

Who am I?

The girl staring back at her was a stranger. She had long, dark hair, a freckle on her cheek, a terrified look in her wide, honey-gold eyes. And she was completely naked, aside from a silvery wristband with the name V. Terra  engraved into its metallic surface. Tearing her gaze away from the mirror-like glass, she continued toward the exit, her legs wobbling like a toddler taking their first steps. Beside the door was a shelf lined with neatly folded white clothes and shoes labelled with different sizes. She looked down at herself, noted that she was very petite, and decided on a smaller size. Quickly getting dressed, with only a little bit of struggle figuring out how to get the clothes on in a way that seemed correct, she moved to the door and studied it with confusion.

How was she supposed to open it? There was no handle, no knob, no pressure plate. Curious, she reached toward it, and a laser scanned across her wristband instantaneously. She flinched, nearly stumbling backward with a startled yelp. The sound of metal sliding on metal as the door's locking mechanism released grated on her oversensitive eardrums. The door slid open, disappearing into a recess in the wall, revealing a hallway that was illuminated with a much brighter light than the faint, muted light in the cryo-chamber. She squinted from the sting in her eyes, and tried to shield against it with her hands as she stepped out. Behind her, the door slid shut again, automatically locking once more.

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to put one foot in front of the other. The squeak of her white shoes echoed in the emptiness of the hallway. She had no idea where she was, or where she was going. She neared a fork in the corridor where a screen on the wall designated that she was on Cryo-Level 3. To the left, an arrow on the screen indicated elevators, and to the right, an information desk. She made her way down the hallway to the right only to find the desk unattended. Surely, there should be someone there to receive the people waking from cryo, but there wasn't. So, she made her way down the left hallway, and found the elevators. Much like the cryo-chamber, a laser scanned her wristband and the doors slid open. She hesitated before entering. What would be on the other Levels? What if she was the only one awake on this ship? All the other pods had been closed in the chamber, except hers.

Fear bubbled in her chest as she stepped inside, and stared at the screen inside the elevator. The doors slid closed, trapping her. There were 5 different Cryo-Levels, she noticed first. Her eyes scanned over the many different Levels that were named with a series of numerical and alphabetical combinations, completely at a loss at which one to choose. She realized this place was impossibly large to have so many Levels. Searching through the options, she clicked a random one, and it opened up a sub-menu, and her eyes landed on 'Cafeteria.' Her stomach growled loudly in response.

Without thinking about it too much, she tapped the touchscreen, and the elevator responded immediately. She had to pick somewhere to go, and maybe getting some food in her system would help to banish the fogginess in her cryo-addled brain. The doors slid open with a quiet, whirring sound, and for a moment, she stood there, gaping. She was definitely not the only one awake. The Cafeteria was enormous, and absolutely bustling with activity. People milled about all over the place - talking, laughing, eating. Children wove in and out of the throngs of patrons, happy and playful. Many people patiently shuffled through queues, waiting for meals. There was an upper tier with people dining at tables with their families.

An expansive skylight above displayed a breathtaking stretch of space, glittering with stars. She slowly walked out of the elevator, fighting the urge to drop to her knees and cry. The strange sense of déjà vu was overwhelming. She had surely been here before, standing in this exact same spot, smelling all these delicious aromas of food, hearing all these voices overlapping around her. She didn't even care that it hurt her ears, the flood of sensory information was a pain she welcomed with gratitude.

Suddenly, one voice cut through all the rest.

"V!" She hardly had time to register what was happening before a girl with bouncy, blonde curls and a huge smile wrapped her in her arms so tightly that she could hardly breathe. "I had no idea you were waking up today! My Stars, I missed you so much!"

She couldn't help but hug the girl back, tears welling in her eyes. She didn't know who this girl was, but she felt like the fear that had been rattling her to the core was lifting slightly in the embrace of someone who must know who she was.

Maybe she can tell me who I am...?