An alarm sounded, echoing through the tiny metal room. Cris' eyes shot open. A red light strobed above his door. Stars! What's going on?

He rolled off his bed, clutching his ears to muffle the alarm. Are we under attack? The metal deck plates felt like ice under his bare feet. Wearing only pajama pants and a t-shirt, he stumbled toward the door. Something didn't feel right.

Cris' stomach turned over. He tried to take a step and couldn't get traction. Slowly, he lifted off the ground. The artificial gravity is shut off! Shite! He continued to drift upward as he struggled. An acidic burn filled the back of his throat, a combination of nerves and the weightlessness. I'm going to be sick. He grasped at the walls and managed to propel himself toward the toilet in the corner. No sooner had he raised the lid then his stomach emptied. He coughed and spat for a moment, only to be horrified to see the vomit rising upward without gravity to hold it down. He slammed the lid down to trap the contents in the toilet bowl.

Still feeling queasy, he gripped the wall and shimmied himself back toward the door. He hit the release to slide it open.

Red light strobed in the hallway, casting eerie shadows across the riveted planes. Cris' heart raced. Where is everyone? Are we going to die? His heart pounded in his ears. The taste of sick still in his mouth made him want to hurl again. He tried to suppress the feeling as he gripped the bulkhead outside his door to move toward the flight deck.

"Thom!" No reply. Cris inched along the wall, afraid to let go. He couldn't hear anything over the deafening alarm and the pounding in his ears. "Thom, where are you?"

Cris made it to the gym and opened the door. Empty. He knocked on the doors to Dom and Neal's rooms, but there was no reply. He kept pushing forward. As he approached the kitchen, the door slid open.

Inside, the three other members of the crew were floating comfortably in midair. Thom was grinning and Dom and Neal were laughing hysterically.

Cris stared at them in shock. "What...?"

Thom laughed at Cris' bewildered expression. "You didn't think you could come onboard without a little hazing, did you?"

Cris felt his face flush. "So there isn't an emergency."

"Not at all." Thom hit a button on the wall and the alarm silenced, though the red flashing light remained. "However, I am pleased to report that all emergency systems are functioning perfectly."

Bomax. Cris steadied himself against the doorframe, his ears still ringing from the alarm. "Well played."

"So sullen! It was all in good fun," Thom said.

Right. "Now can you restore the gravity? I feel like I'm going to puke again."

Dom and Neal burst into another round of laughter.

Thom looked slightly apologetic. "Again? You planet-lovers never fair so well at first. Cleaning supplies are in the cabinet over here, if you need anything."

No more servants to pick up after me. "Thanks. I think most of it was... contained."

"Well, let's get you back on your feet." The captain glided toward the door.

Cris eased out of the way so Thom could get by, and then followed him through the hall toward the darkened flight deck.

Thom pulled himself into the pilot's seat. Even in the challenging light of the red strobe, he easily manipulated the buttons and switches on the control panel. "This is why we have physical buttons rather than exclusively touchscreen interfaces," he said. "You can run on backup batteries for days this way. Holographics are a massive power drain. And difficult to control in zero-G."

"Ah, I was wondering." I can't believe they messed with me like that.

The red light was replaced by the normal soft yellow ambiance. Simultaneously, Cris felt himself drawn toward the floor, and he repositioned accordingly. He breathed a deep sigh of relief as his bare feet made contact with the ground once more. His stomach settled. "That's better." I hope I'm cut out for life in space.

Thom beamed. "Congratulations. You've been officially inducted."

Yay. "I'm going back to bed." He heard Thom chuckling in the flight deck all the way back to his room.

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