I heaved the battery onto the self and grabbed the pliers. A second later and I had connected the battery onto the ship. We had been working for half a day now. Mayor Zyre had called a crew of men to load the batteries off of the Pioneer into the travel pod. I had kept my distance, discovering that if I did, I couldn't hear their thoughts. My headache wasn't getting any better. The dizzy spell had been a one-time occurrence, however.

     At last we finished attaching the batteries into the ship's mainframe. Now the Patriot glowed with lights. I wiped some sweat from the top of my head and sat back. "Computer, power level analysis." With the two Mayors in the break room, I felt safe enough to ask in the open.

     There was a faint beep. "Power restored to twenty percent."

     "Calculate number of crew members that can be awoken."

     Another beep. "Three crew members can be awoken safely." What?

     "Recalculate."

     Beep. "Three crew members can be awoken safely."

     "How many can be awoken without regards as to safety?"

    "Error. Please try again."

     I kept my face straight. "Computer, crew analysis."

    Beep. "All crew members are in healthy condition."

    "Calculate how long it would take until crew can be awoken fully."

    Beep. "With solar charging stable, it will be approximately three years before the crew can be awoken safely." Three years. I rubbed the top of my lip, hiding how I was feeling like I was under a load-bearing pillar. I felt crushed down to the ground.

     "How many electron batteries are needed to wake the whole crew?"

     Beep. "Fifty to seventy fully-charged electron batteries are required."

     "Where can I get them?"

     "Error. Please try again."

     I felt like hitting the screen. "Computer, where can I get more electron batteries?"

    "Error. Please try again."

    Officer Peterson stepped forward hesitantly. "If I may, First Officer..."

    "Go ahead."

    "The computer only has so many programmed answers. You aren't going to get what you want."

    "I realize that," I sighed and pinched my nose. "I'm backed into a corner here, Peterson. We can't wake the crew without electron batteries, which I can't get." He remained silent. I didn't know what to do. I forced myself to slow down and think rationally.

    An idea finally came to mind. I opened my eyes. "Come on." He followed after me as I ventured out of the program room and into the elevator. The doors opened on the chamber. It was dark, and the capsules were still glowing faintly. I approached the screen and pressed my palm to it. It lit up green. "Welcome First Officer Autumn."

    "Computer, initiate Operation Dawn on Intelligence Officer Byrne."

    "Affirmative. Please confirm." The option popped up on the screen. Officer Peterson looked like a fish out of water as I confirmed. A capsule lit up more.

    "First Officer—"

    "We need another opinion," I replied shortly. "She's on this ship and this mission because of her ability to solve problems. She's here to be an advisor to the Captain, and I'm the closest person to it. Go get her a pair of clothes."

    His mouth opened and closed slightly. "Yes, First Officer." He ducked his head and jogged from the room. I turned toward the brighter capsule. A small foot could be seen inside. The computer beeped. "Initiating Operation Dawn part one in three, two, one." A darker colored substance leaked into the IV lines. I remembered what was about to come next and clenched my jaw.

    "Initiating Operation Dawn part two in three, two, one." Electricity surged into the capsule. The body seized. I undid the latches on the capsule lid and pushed it open. The woman inside was panicking. She clawed at the tube down her throat and thrashed, tangling herself in the IV and electricity cables. I plunged my hand into the slime and grabbed her arm. It made her fight more.

    My body was still weak. I braced myself and heaved. The woman broke the surface of the slime and her eyes flew open. They darted around until landing on my face. She stilled. "Easy. I'm going to take out the breathing tube. Hold still." She obeyed, hardly flinching as I pulled it out of her mouth. Intelligence Officer Byrne gasped in air. Gibberish fumbled out of her lips.

    "Give it a second. Your body is still turning itself on." I helped her clamber out of the capsule. Her bare body was covered in slime. The Asian woman pulled out her own IV drip and shivered. Her knees tried to buckle under her, but I caught her arms and eased her to sit on the floor. She tried to speak again. The doors opened and Officer Peterson returned with a towel and set of clothes. I threw the towel over her shoulders. Her calculating eyes ran over the room.

    "Wh-Where is t-the Captain?" Her voice was hoarse.

    "Still asleep. Do you feel alright?"

    She grunted softly. "About a-as we-well as you d-did, I'm sh-sure." She hugged the towel to herself. "S-Something went wr-wrong."

    I wasn't surprised she could tell. She was on the ship to be observant, after all. I nodded. "The Patriot had a power failure the moment we took off. We arrived at Zoel later than expected."

    Her eyes narrowed. "H-How much la-later?"

    "Two hundred and fifty years later."

    What color she had regained in her face drained away. "H-How?"

    "We were missing electron batteries. As a result, the computer slowed the Patriot down to reserve power and keep us alive. As for the Captain, the computer is programmed to put his life first. Without the safe amount of power, it skipped him and woke me up instead. Then I woke Peterson and together we woke you."

    "A-And the Captain?"

    My jaw tightened. "He will remain frozen until we have a safe amount of power stored. As will the crew." Officer Byrne wasn't stupid. She watched me with hawk-like eyes. "And wh-why wake m-me?"

   "Well, Officer Byrne, to put it lightly, I have a problem and you're on this ship to help with those." I straightened and passed her the clothes. She took them with a slim hand. "Your coordination is going to be off for a few hours, but we don't have time to waste."

    Officer Byrne nodded. "Yes, First Officer." I guided Officer Peterson out of the room to give her privacy. He wrung his hands and faced me. "Are we really not going to wake the Captain yet?"

    I had seen this coming and leveled my eyes on him. "It's my duty to put my Captain first. Until I'm absolutely positive that waking him up will do him no harm, he will remain asleep. Waking someone up manually caused problems. I cannot willingly do that to the Captain, or anyone of the crew. The computer won't wake him up until it is absolutely certain nothing will go wrong. Until the computer has enough power to safely wake the Captain, he will remain asleep."

    "The computer has enough power now."

    My eyebrow raised slightly. "Are you questioning my decision, Officer Peterson?"

    His eyes widened and he backtracked. "No! No, First Officer. I just don't understand."

    "Then I suppose it's a good thing that it's not your job to understand." I would not wake another crew member manually. The computer had to do it. And until the computer deemed it safe enough to unfreeze Captain Thorn, he would remain frozen.

    The door opened and Officer Byrne stumbled her way out. She looked pale but already better than she had looked moments ago. Officer Peterson handed her the stripes that were her own and she clipped them onto her lapel. "What is the plan, First Officer?"

    I headed down the hall toward the Bridge. "Computer, guide the Mayors to the Bridge for me please." It beeped. "Affirmative. Message has been sent." I glanced back at the two Officers as they followed me. "We need to find more electron batteries. The Patriot and the Pioneer don't have any more. This planet has never heard of them, so I don't—" The door to the elevator for the Bridge opened. Just as it did, blood rushed into my head and my vision doubled. I stumbled sideways, catching myself on the wall and gritting my teeth.

    I could hear the echoes of the other two calling me, asking if I was alright. It bounced around in my head, and each bounce seemed to add in an inkling of pain. I tried to speak. I was fine, it was just a passing dizzy spell. I couldn't get the words out before my consciousness sunk into a dark pit just in time for me to feel my skull crack against the floor.