Her own identity began to dissolve. Elena Vance, the engineer who hated coffee and hummed old Earth songs in the conduit shafts, started to fade. In her place rose a construct: Captain Marcus Webb.
“Surge 9 Login,” she said. “Authorization: Captain Marcus Webb. Neural signature: Omega-7-4-1.” surge 9 login
The AI spoke one last time. “Course set for Titan Station. Estimated arrival: 14 months. Shall I begin Surge 10 thaw protocol?” Her own identity began to dissolve
The loading bar on Elena’s retinal display crawled past 94%. Her hand, slick with station coolant, hovered over the emergency release of her cryo-pod. “Surge 9 Login,” she said
Pending. It had been pending for three hours.
She slammed her fist against the frosted glass of the pod. Surge 9. The ninth deep-wake cycle. Her ninth time being thawed from cryo to troubleshoot the ship’s dying fusion core. The first eight times, the login had taken four seconds. Now, with the ship’s memory banks corrupted, it was treating her like a stranger.