The Wanderer Chronicles—Nomad
[Draft copy, story subject to changes and alterations before final draft]

Part One: Nari


	The Dactan diplomatic cruiser Alanrhia sailed though the inky black void, costing through the empty deep space between the stars on its way to a distant system. The nearly half-mile long ship had dropped from super-light slip-speed to cool its massive drive arrays, unfurling glowing red heat sinks like the wings of a glittering metal insect. It would soon be ready to re-engage its drive for the final leg of its light years long journey.

	On C deck, in a small cabin on the port side of the ship sat a solitary Dactan woman. Her name was Nari-Rhi Daloth, known to most as Nari.
She was 23 years of age and stood at a height of six feet six inches tall. She wore a simple gray passenger jumpsuit, which had been issued to all the ship's passengers upon boarding with a pair of simple utility shoes. She was serving on the ship as an aid to an ambassador who was traveling aboard it. She had been appointed to the ship's crew to complete a required year of applied service at the central higher education center on her home world of Dren, a hard won position that she had narrowly attained.
	She was seeking qualification to become a diplomatic negotiator, and had been lucky—and dedicated—enough to be assigned to the diplomatic vessel, which was making contact with a newly discovered civilization far outside of Dactan space.

	Looking up from the book she was reading on inter-species relations Nari was caught for a moment looking at the view-screen on the wall of her cabin, which displayed a view of space from the front of the ship.
Marking her page and putting down the book she got up from the small cot on which she had been lying and walked over to the screen. Staring out at the starfield ahead she thought of how lucky she had been to get an assignment on this ship. Being a member of the crew to make first contact with a new civilization would be a favorable item to add to her resume when she applied for a posting back home.

	As Nari looked at the stars her thoughts turned to the civilization they were to meet, apparently a large Human one. Or so the best scientific minds of Dren had concluded.
She had read a wide range of texts about the few Humans that had passed by her home home world in the past. Most had been traders or nomads, but for the most part had been civil and had provided a wealth of information on the Human species. The last alien contact had been more than half a century ago, and the possibility of meeting an entire human civilization was being greatly lauded by the government and media of her home world.

	Nari remembered the pictures and videos she had seen of the Humans, how different they had appeared when she had first seen them as a child.
She flipped a section of the wall screen to a mirror and regarded herself, losing herself in thinking about the differences between their two species. The Dactan's long four jointed legs, with their double knee joint. The semi-dextrous tail, an extension of the spine. The mane of stiff hair running from the back of the head to the tip of the tail.
The face of a Human could have been taken for that of a Dactan, if it were not for the larger Dactan eyes and the long ears reaching down to brush the shoulders.
How odd the Humans had looked when Nari had seen the pictures, their heavy three jointed legs, their lack of a balancing tail, not to mention the strange stubby ears and small eyes. She remembered laughing the first time she had watched a video of them walking when she was very young, they looked so stiff, like a robot almost.

	After the first feint transmissions had been discovered emanating from this mysterious Human civilization Nari had opened files and searched archives for all the information on their species she could find. As a diplomat in training she found the idea of inter-species communication and negotiation fascinating.
After reviewing the files on Human anatomy she had come to the conclusion that they were not so very different in many ways—reading how the Humans had almost the same five fingered hands, and how their organs shared the same basic functions, even if the Human heart was so much smaller than that of the large six chambered Dactan.

	Her thoughts turned to her own personal appearance for a moment as she brushed back a stray strand of her dark hair, putting on her best charming smile in the mirror. That same smile had proven useful more than once before. By the standards of her race she had an attractive enough face, and she had found more than once that when cold negotiation failed a pretty smile and innocent look could be enough to sway an opponent.

	Nari broke out of her thoughts, pulling her slate blue eyes away from the mirror. She thought to herself that if she could avoid staring when they first met the Human delegation she would be off to a good start. She had never met a human in person before.

	Sitting back down on the edge of her cot Nari reached for the book she had been reading, and was about to open it again when without warning the floor jumped under her violently, throwing her off of the cot and against the opposite wall.
	Pulling herself up while rubbing a throbbing bruise on her arm she blinked in sudden darkness as the cabin’s lights suddenly flickered off. She crouched in the darkness for several stunned seconds, only to be blinded as light returned to the room suddenly, flooding her wide eyes. She saw with alarm that the light was that of the orange emergency lighting, and with a sinking feeling in her stomach heard the sound of a loud warning siren ringing in the corridor outside.
Steadying herself against the wall of the cabin as another tremor shook the ship she made a stab at the activator next to the door with one hand, leaning into the corridor outside as the door slid open.

	As Nari looked out into the C deck corridor she saw cabin doors opening with alarmed faces looking out of them.
She heard feet on the metal flight of stairs to B deck at the end of the corridor, and looking towards the stairs saw an agitated crewman running down the stairs at top speed. Clearing the bottom of the stairs with a jump he continued down the corridor, stopping at its end to pull open a communications panel and remove a com pickup from its holder, fumbling with the system's control pad.
	Nari yelled at him “What's going on?” Her voice joining that of the others in the hall.
Raising a hand for quiet he continued to fumble with the control panel, finally managing to activate the com panel and speaking into the pickup.
	“This is an urgent order to all C deck passengers: we are currently under orders from the flight crew to move to the escape pod bay and be ready for immediate evacuation of the ship.”

	Nari gulped, thinking of how bad the situation could be if they were being ordered to the escape pods.
She turned back into her cabin, thinking to grab something before she left, but was nearly knocked off her feat as the floor shook again, the ship's artificial gravity field fluctuating sickeningly for several seconds.
She looked desperately around the room, then turned and started down the hall empty handed.
Seeing that the occupants of the other cabins were already well ahead she broke into a panicked sprint, following the orange emergency lights illuminated on the floor marking the way to the escape pod bay.

	Taking the turn into C deck's central corridor Nari saw the door at the end of the hall leading to the deck's small escape pod bay. Tuning the corner of the small bay's corridor she entered the bay that held C deck's three escape pods, the first of which had already been launched.
Looking to the door of the second she saw the worried looking face of the officer who had made the announcement looking out of the doorway.
Making for the second pod she saw that it was already full, and was waved on by the officer, who called “this one's full, take the third” before pressing the launch button of the second pod himself.
The pod's door closed and sealed with a hiss and it was fired from its bay with a hollow clang.

	Nari looked to the third pod and saw its heavy door open and its interior vacant. Crossing the Small bay she ducked through the pod's low door and looked back down the hall, staggering against the frame of the door as the ship shook again, the emergency lights flickering ominously.

	Nari quickly took stock of the situation, trying to think clearly. The other two pods had already been fired; supposedly the fist had been full, and she had seen that the second was as well. Each pod was supposed to hold four people, and C deck had only had nine people in it, plus the crewman. So where is the last... she thought frantically.


	The last C deck passenger came into Nari's view some thirty seconds later as he came running from the starboard corridor. There he is Nari thought with relief, waving him on as he came down the short section of hall towards the pod bay.
He had almost reached the entrance to the escape pod bay when the unthinkable happened.
As Nari held onto the rail on the inside of the pod's door and watched the man running the last few feet to the door the floor heaved once more, throwing the man off his feet as Nari slammed painfully against the side of the door.
As the man pulled himself up there was a loud scream of rending metal from the opposite end of C deck's main corridor, and to Nari's horror she saw a huge portion of the rear wall tear itself away as the ship's artificial gravity field swung violently and died, leaving them weightless.
As air began rushing being sucked from the torn hull the man made a desperate push for the door to the pod, cartwheeling out of control in the sudden lack of gravity. Nari caught him by one hand as the rushing of air tuned into a scream and they were both pulled into a vertigo inducing position with Nari hanging half-way out of the pod's door, holding her fellow passenger by one hand as he dangled over what had become a vertical drop to the end of the hall and open space beyond.

	Nari was left desperately fighting against the violent rush of air while staring down the now gravity-less corridor. She pulled again, trying to lift the weight of the dangling man inside the pod. The air was being sucked from the ship too fast, however, and she could not pull his weight through the door. As he looked up at her she could see the fear clearly in his face as he clung desperately to her hand.
“Come on!” she shouted, pulling once again. But his weight was too much, and now the air was becoming thin. Nari was now beginning to feel light headed, her grip on the rail inside the pod starting to slip.
	As he hung against the void the man looked up at her, then down at the gaping hole below him.
Closing his eyes he shouted “let go” his words whipped away in the rush of air. Nari's eyes widened as she felt his hand loosen in hers. With a twist of his arm he forced his hand from her grip.
Her cry of horror was lost in the scream of escaping air as the man slid down the hall and was sucked out of the gash in the ship's hull. For a second she was paralyzed, staring after the tumbling figure.

	Snapping back to the moment Nari pulled herself up past the pod's door, slamming her hand blindly against the launch control.
The door of the pod hissed shut and Nari was thrown back onto the floor as it shot out of its bay in a stiff rush of acceleration.

	Nari lay on the floor of the pod, gasping for air as darkness closed in on her vision. She faintly heard the hiss of air being pumped back into the cabin before drifting completely into unconsciousness.


	Nari regained consciousness with a start, for a fleeting second not remembering where she was.
It all came pouring back a moment later—the ship, the evacuation, the man in the corridor, the look on his face as he fell into the void. I didn't even know his name She thought to herself with a pang of guilt.
She stood up slowly, feeling like she was about to be sick. Fighting down the urge she looked around the small interior of the escape pod.
	The interior of the pod consisted of six wall alcoves, the main hatch at the rear and a small window with a control screen under it at the front of the cramped space.
Looking at the alcoves Nari remembered what she had been told when she had taken a tour of the ship with the rest of the C deck passengers before they had departed.
Four of the alcoves held biological stasis systems, insuring against the event that the pod ran low on air or food. In such an event the occupants would be able to enter stasis for an extended amount of time, essentially slowing their body functions to a standstill to allow the pod to sustain them until its recovery. She remembered with unease that there had never been any discussion of how long one could safely remain in stasis.
Looking to the other two alcoves she saw a small toilet system and a compact storage compartment stocked with food and water.
Out of the small front window she could see only a pitch black wall of space, full of the tiny pin-pricks of stars, slowly rotating as the pod spun on its axis.

	Turning to the small control panel she touched the clearly marked activation key, bringing the pod's simple computer system online with a soft chime. The system immediately began playing a pre-recorded voice message.
	“Welcome to the Dren international Space Industries escape craft system mark two. Please remain calm, a distress beacon has been activated and you will soon be detected by a nearby vessel which will retrieve this escape craft.”

	Nari looked bleakly at the dark field of stars in the small window. How far had the Alanrhia been out of Dactan space? For that matter, what had happened in the first place?
Looking to the small display for the pod's systems she touched a key marked “resource status”, causing a list of oxygen, food, water and energy levels to appear on the screen. With a sinking feeling she saw how much air had been lost in those last few hectic moments. The pod should have held enough air for four occupants for five days, but now had only enough left for three days for herself.
She slid down the wall into a sitting position, a  hysterical laugh forcing its way from her lips. If it had not been for the lack of air she could have made twenty days at least before having to resort to stasis.


	Three agonizingly long days later Nari was staring desperately out of the escape pod's the small window, willing a ship to appear and rescue her.
The computer emitted a loud tone, the sound of the mechanical voice cutting through the sickening silence of her own apprehension.
	“It has been detected that the oxygen supply of this pod is reaching critically low levels, at this time all occupants are advised to make use of the cryogenic stasis systems of this craft for their own safety.”

	Looking at one of the small stasis tubes Nari wondered if I go in, will I ever wake up again?
Nari hesitated for several minutes, agonizing over the choice, before finally that she had none.
Clenching her teeth she turned and leaned into the small tube, pulling its clear lid closed over herself. Reaching out with a trembling hand she pressed the the small button that activated the stasis system. She tried to stop shaking as the tube automatically sealed itself with a faint hiss.
As she drifted into the artificial sleep brought on by the system she once again saw the face of the man who had released his grip to save her. She silently wondered if her fate would be any better.